Have No Regrets
by HumansAreTheREALMonsters
Summary: "I made a name for myself so that you couldn't call me just an 'evil twin'. No matter how much you beg, no matter how many people I have to kill, I will never stop. And there ain't a damn thing you can do about it, Blue. I'm just trying to help you." Sonic just wanted to go on a short vacation. It's funny how quickly the world can fall. Mainly Sonadow, some Sonourge.
1. It's Not Him

_**\- Have No Regrets -**_

* * *

 **1 - It's Not Him**

* * *

 _With dilated, disbelieving eyes, they all watched as the person they thought was their hero, lower his eyes sadly at the ground before closing them. What did he upset about? He held up his hand and hugged his own arm to himself, as if trying to give himself comfort. Even though his posture seemed dejected, he was starting to grow an odd smile on his face. In just a second, his scowl grew into a smirk. Soon, they watched as his body slightly shook as he began to giggle. In a few seconds, he was full on laughing at this point, cackling loudly like a mad man. He then broke his lips into a wide eerie grin. Sharp fangs, gleaming white, all showing in glee. Nothing but sinister, malicious intent spreading throughout the entire city in just one expression. His now shrunken eyes looking at them with malevolent pupils, almost slit like a viper's._

 _"Ahaha!" He snickered. "Hahaha, ahahaha!"_

 _No one knew what to think, once he said his next choice of words. He looked straight down at the kitsune, and tried to hold back his giggles._

 _"Ahh," He exhaled from laughing so hard. How funny. They all thought they would have him vulnerable. After they all, he wasn't actually trapped with them. "Tails, I'm so sorry I couldn't be a better big brother to you." He apologized, his voice changing more. That, wasn't the voice they all knew. It was gruffer, maybe even raspier. It almost sounded like a darker person took over and spoke instead. No wonder he never spoke, his voice alone would have revealed he wasn't whom he said. "But, this is where my plan begins!" He exclaimed. "And no one," He backed one leg behind the other, his knees lightly buckling. "Is gonna stop me!" He yelled._

 _He wasn't trapped with them._

They, at that moment, were trapped with him.

* * *

 ** _\- Four weeks earlier..._**

 _"You're, leaving so soon?"_

 _The fox asked with a slightly saddened tone, looking up at his elder brother with wide bright blue eyes. His brother just smiled warmly, knowing full well he wouldn't like him leaving so suddenly. But, they both knew the fox was more than capable of handling himself on his own for a while. However, they would miss each other's company. After all, it was their week to hang out and sleep over in the same house. But, he guessed today was just different. He had explained he wanted a break from it all, that a hero needed to take a load off once in a while. The doctor's been quiet for a very long time, so he figured now would be okay to leave and relax. His brother also said he had something extremely important to do. Something personal that he wanted no one to see or know about._

 _"I promise, I'll only be gone for a month. If anything happens, I promise you, I'll know. And I'll come runnin'. Okay?"_

 _"I..." He trailed off. But, then the orange fox nodded and smiled back. "Yeah. No problem. Just, you know, be careful. You know I get worried about you when you're on your own."_

 _"Heh. I'm supposed to be saying that to you!" He laughed as he tightened his hold on his bag. "Nah I'll be fine, I swear buddy."_

 _"Okay. See you in a month!"_

 _"See ya, Tails." The elder said as he ruffled the little one's head, before turning and walking out the door._

* * *

 ** _\- Four weeks after Sonic's departure._**

That was about four weeks ago. A couple more days, and his brother would be back.

Life for the fox was pretty easy now that Eggman went quiet. About the time Sonic turned eighteen, he hadn't made a move since. See, Sonic was now nineteen years old. Tails was now twelve. The Doctor hasn't done anything for an entire year, and no one has seen or discovered any new bases. If anything, some people found abandoned or destroyed bases of his, completely ruined. Like someone made a horrible attack on them all with a large army. No one saw anything that could have hinted a comeback. So it seemed like no one had anything to worry about.

As things became peaceful, Tails got even more advanced in his mechanical abilities. He upgraded the Tornado 2, and it was a true beauty. A bigger, wider plane with much more detail in it's model. It's color blue like his favorite hero, it's wings bigger and better, reaching greater spans. It's propellers were shiny and sharp, with a nice coat gleaming on the machine. There were small bits of reds and yellows tipped on parts of the plane, giving a throwback to how the plane used to look.

Tails had to remodel the home that he lived in so he could have some room to park the machine in his garage. With that and his messy workshop connected to the house, things often became sloppy or neglected. Sometimes Sonic would have to come over to help him clean up. The fox would work so much, he'd be neck deep in nuts and bolts. Literally.

For now, he wasn't messing with his plane at all. It was perfect as it was. He was pretty proud of his work. For now, he'd work on some smaller scale inventions he had blueprints for. Like the new machine he built that could disrupt other machines with chaotic wavelengths. It wasn't finished, so he'd be testing it today. It was nice to be to himself, and relax for a while. Not having to look out his window to see fleets of an Egg invasion ready to hit Station Square.

As for Sonic, the preteen didn't know much about the location he disappeared to. He just said something vague like, 'I'm going to visit my old home.' But, the only home Sonic could ever call 'old', would be the old house they built together when they were children years ago. At least, that Tails knew of. He couldn't think of anywhere else Sonic would consider 'home' besides the house he reluctantly owns by himself now. He didn't really want to have a house, considering he liked to sleep outside, and be active out in the beauty of nature. In fact, the only reason why he bought a home was because he had the money and because he needed a place to crash just in case a tree branch wouldn't do it for him. And to have a fridge to store food of course. Oh yeah, and somewhere to pee. And well, he couldn't keep crashing at his little bro's house. It'd be more grown up to live in his own home after all. But, regardless of all that, this still didn't explain what he meant by that.

This baffled him. He'd have to ask the hero where he went to spend his time.

Did Tails miss Sonic? Absolutely. Everyone missed him, because everyone didn't expect him to disappear for this long. When Sonic suddenly left somewhere, he'd be gone for a week, maybe even two weeks at most. Amy of course was hopelessly waiting for his return, spamming Tails' phone on end, asking if Sonic would be back or not. The kitsune ended up ignoring her calls entirely after a while. Knuckles of course pretended to act like he didn't give a damn, when in reality, he did miss the company of someone he could call a brother as well. He visited every now and then to check up on Tails, while insulting Sonic for 'leaving his brother all alone by himself'. No one knew where Rouge went off to, and no one's seen Shadow.

It was almost afternoon now. Guess he should probably prepare lunch-

A loud bang was heard upstairs. Tails was in his workshop, so he was down in the basement. It was so loud, he heard it over the sound of his power drill. The kitsune furrowed his brows and scooted himself off of his work stool, landing on his feet. He put down the tool back on his desk, and walked his red and white sneakers over to the stairwell. He walked up the steps and made it back to the ground floor of the house. He traveled to the entrance of his home quickly, hearing another loud knock. Whoever this person was, they were pretty heavy handed. It couldn't have been Sonic, it hasn't been a month yet. Plus, he wouldn't bang like that, not even Knuckles.

Suddenly, he felt something in his gut. Something telling him that he shouldn't open this door. Sonic _aways_ told him that. If you feel something in your gut or your heart go off the instant something happens, follow it, even if it might be wrong. Because nine times out of ten, it'll be right.

But, maybe this _was_ Sonic. Hell, he could be wounded and can't knock on the door as fast as he usually did. It couldn't be a robot or Eggman, at least not now. Ah the heck with it. Tails unlocked the knob, looking up at the blinds covering the high window of the front door. He turned it and slowly pulled the door open. Once he did, his eyes blinked several times in surprise.

"Sonic?"

"..." The other didn't respond. He only made a smile on his peach muzzle and held up his gloved hand to wave. His crystal clear lime green-like eyes stared at him with an emotion that seemed more or less pleased. He had no wounds or scars on his blue taller body, and he even looked...clean. As if he never traveled or left the house. Well, of course the hero probably would have washed or something before he came back, but, he'd still look a bit tired at least, right? At least have his shoes a little dirty. At least smell like he normally did, like nature.

Like trees and fresh wood, wild flowers and fruits. In fact, Sonic said he'd go somewhere that had absolutely no civilization. No, he smelled like he just came from a city. And his shoes were practically spit-shined. That shouldn't be right...

...And why wouldn't he talk?

"Um, h-hey!" He stammered with an unsure smile. He was still happy to see him again. "You're early, come on in!" He exclaimed.

* * *

Something was wrong here, he was sure of it.

Once he let Sonic back in, he noticed immediately that something wasn't right. When Sonic left, he had a small bag with him. Normally he wouldn't travel with one, but for some reason he needed it for his vacation. Said he needed it for where he was going. The Sonic that came at his doorstep had absolutely nothing on him. When Tails asked him what happened to it, he just looked back confused. Just shrugging with a raised brow.

Again, he wouldn't talk. When Tails asked about that, Sonic managed to make some gestures that his throat was extremely sore. At first Tails didn't understand, until Sonic found a pen and paper and wrote it out. Tails was again, baffled. First of all, he wrote in flawless cursive, something Sonic couldn't do very well. He could read it, but definitely not write it. Also, Sonic was not one to catch an illness that easily, especially not something common like a sore throat. Saying that Sonic was sick, would cause as much shock as someone saying they had the cure to cancer. When Tails asked how, Sonic wouldn't really give an answer.

When Tails offered for him to eat lunch, ol' classic chili dogs, Sonic just shook his head no, saying no thank you with a silent smile. Sonic never turned that down. _Never._ Especially not after traveling. One would think he'd be starving! Even more confused by this, Tails watched as Sonic went to the bathroom to wash up. Feeling suspicious and curious, Tails secretly followed his older brother to the bathroom. By the time Sonic turned on the shower, it was like reality suddenly changed on him.

In a split second, he saw Sonic turn...Green? Then back to blue again. It was like he saw _a glitch_ happen right before his eyes. Not only that, but he also saw deep scars on his body, that instantly went away when he blinked.

The heck just happened?

There was another thing. When Tails went to give him a hug when they were at the door, Sonic wouldn't hug back. He just looked around, feeling awkward, and even disgusted. It made Tails feels really uncomfortable, so he stopped the moment he saw his expression. Sonic would have ruffled his hair, gave him a noogie, hugged back...Heck, he sometimes would peck him on the forehead. And there was one more thing before Sonic left to the bathroom. He had written to Tails, that he didn't want anyone else to know he was back yet, and he wouldn't give a reason why.

After all that, Sonic was still in the shower. Tails had long since moved to the living room to sit down and think about all this.

Later that night, Tails made an accidental experiment. He placed a hidden camera in the guest room that was made for Sonic and watched his movements. He had the machine in his workshop that worked with waves. After all, he was planning to work on it anyway. He powered it with a fake chaos emerald he had forged a while ago so it could work like it was intended. As he tampered with the device, he was watching Sonic just chilling and doing whatever he wanted. Strangely enough, he was reading a book. Sonic wasn't illiterate, even though he wasn't necessarily book smart. He did know a thing or two about some stuff, and did have some books he liked to read. But, he didn't do it often. In fact, it was rare he was ever caught reading one. Especially not one about... _theoretical physics._ Yeah, that's what he was reading. One of _Tails'_ books.

Anyway, Tails wasn't paying attention to what he was doing himself. He accidentally tripped the wrong mechanism in the machine, and in a split moment, Tails saw a green hedgehog again in the camera. He blinked, and it was back to blue Sonic. He tampered with the machine once more, and with a gasp, he saw the green hedgehog again. He tried over and over and over, and he got the exact same result. It was another person. This wasn't some glitch on the camera's feed, because he saw this exact same thing earlier. And unless he needed his eyes checked, _he knew what he saw._

It was official. The person in his house was not his brother.

But what could he do? What if he was a robot? What if he was a clone? What if he worked for Eggman?

He couldn't do this by himself.

He needed a plan. But, he didn't have good solid proof. Would anyone even believe him?

* * *

 _ **\- Three Days later, present time.**_

"Um, Tails, are you sure about this?" Amy asked as she leaned against her trusty scarlet hammer that stood on the concrete ground. Her face looked very dubious, not of just the situation, but Tails as well. Over the years, Amy still had the same personality, with her maturity levels slightly rising. She was still an annoying fangirl, she just wasn't as intolerable as she was when she was Tails' age. The pink quills she styled as hair grew a bit longer, and she still wore the same red dress that was just slightly modified. It wasn't as kiddy-looking as before, with her dressed being more frilled and stylish. She still wore the same boots, and her eyes gained a few lashes. "Seriously, this is a bit crazy."

"She's not entirely wrong." The red echidna added, leaning against a brick wall with his arms crossed over the white crescent on his chest. The three were talking in an alleyway that had stairs leading up from it. It was between a candy shop and some vacant building that was currently being worked on. "Eggman's been quiet for a year, and no one's found anything to prove that he might be lurking about. I even did a few rounds around Mobius, and I can assure you he's long gone. If he's not dead, he's sure as hell taking a long vacation from Sonic." He closed his eyes and silently exhaled. "I know I would." Knuckles never really changed. He was still a _little_ gullible, a hard-head, and grumpy. He never became extremely beefy or girthy as time flew, but he did gain some extra muscle here and there. And, he wasn't as easily fooled as he used to be. He was much more careful about the Master Emerald as well.

Amy silently rolled her eyes at him and turned her deep forest eyes back to Tails. "Anyway, you sure this isn't some misunderstanding? It can't be some robot, or clone or something." She said while lightly scratching her head with her finger. "I mean, like Knuckles said, Eggman's dead to the world. And he couldn't have made something without you knowing about it. In fact," Amy tilted her head a little. "Didn't you invent something that acted as a signal to notify you if something seemed Eggman or robot related?"

Tails became conflicted by this. "Y-Yeah but-"

"Then again," Knuckles spoke again. "It _is_ weird he didn't want you to let us know he was here. Frankly," Knuckles leaned off of the wall and opened his eyes to face the two. "I don't think Eggman has anything to do with this. But I do think there's something up with Sonic based on what you told us."

"Oh please, you're just saying that cause you always have something _against_ Sonic!" Amy scowled.

"Whatever." Knuckles growled back. "The point is, I'm with you one hundred percent. I don't think that's Sonic either."

"And when you're both wrong, you'll both have to apologize!" She 'hmphed', looking away and turning her nose up.

Tails groaned at their bickering. "Just, both of you stop." He said calmly. He looked at Amy and placed his hand on hers, the one that held her hammer. "Amy, just listen to me for a second. I hate to brag but, when have I ever been wrong, especially when it involves Sonic?"

To this, Amy's face slowly dropped. "Well...never."

"Exactly! Trust me, I hate to do this too. I _hope_ I'm wrong. But, I just got this gut feeling, that's not my brother." He took his hand away from hers and glanced at Knuckles. "And if it's not, I'll need your help."

Knuckles nodded, assuring the fox he had his back no matter what happened. "You got it."

Amy heavily sighed and shook her head. "You _are_ my friend. So I trust you. I got your back, too." She smiled. Tails smiled back in relief and sighed in satisfaction.

"Good. Then let's-Ngh!" As Tails was about to turn around, he bumped himself right into someone's chest. Rubbing his nose in pain, he looked up and almost gasped when he saw his older brother standing in front of him. Those eyes...They look meaner than before, yet he was smiling at him. Is this, was this really Sonic? And, he didn't notice until now, that Sonic seemed slightly more muscular than the last time he saw him. Yeah, as the hedgehog matured, he did get stronger and actually grow more muscle but...No, he looked more 'rough', for lack of a better term. Kinda like Shadow, but even the ebony hedgehog looked much refined than this.

To this, Amy raised her brows, while Knuckles scoffed. Despite Sonic's smart mouth and attitude, he was still somewhat of a gentleman. He wasn't that sloppy, at least not in public. He always looked good, and not at all like he was some kind of thug. After all, heroes needed to keep up their appearances right? But his Sonic, no. His eye sockets even seemed darker, like he hadn't slept in days. No, like he smoked or something. His green eyes weren't as pretty as they were supposed to. More sinister. His smile didn't even seem genuine. It seemed ill-willed. Even his quills seemed a little more jagged and sharper.

"S-Sonic!" Tails smiled nervously. "Uh, how long you been standing there?"

Sonic's smile faded to a flat line and narrowed his eyes at Tails. He did what he asked him not to do.

Catching this, Tails instantly began waving his hands back and forth anxiously. "I-I know you didn't want anyone to know about you being here yet but, I was just-"

"It's fine Tails." Knuckles walked over to the hedgehog while cracking his namesakes. His expression grew dark as he came closer. "You can stop pretending now. He's not gonna be able to do anything anyway." He said menacingly as he took one more step closer to Sonic. "So let's just cut to the chase here-"

Amy began to get worried. "K-Knuckles, wait!"

"-According to Tails, you've been acting seriously strange. You're not running that big mouth of yours. You're not going out to run. And you surely don't look like the Sonic I know of. So," He roughly seized Sonic's peach shoulder with his spiked glove. He gripped it tightly, wanting to cause pain. " _Who_ are you really?!" He snarled.

"..." At first, Sonic said nothing. He just stared at Knuckles with a small grin, unimpressed and not at all threatened. Then, he slightly shook, as if he chuckled. This made the echidna rear his arm back to prepare to punch.

"What's so funny!?"

Sonic actually brought a hand up to his mouth and covered it. He looked over at Tails, giving him a look as if asking to explain what the hell was going on here.

Tails looked down and steadily walked over to gently push Knuckles away from Sonic. He got between them, but didn't dare look at the person he thought was his brother. "You're, not Sonic. You can stop with this stupid game." He said harshly, making Sonic actually take him seriously. No longer smiling, but frowning. "I..Thought I'd be okay on my own. But I gotta admit, a month without my big bro does hurt. But it hurts even more that some faker is walking around pretending to be him!" He whipped his head at Sonic angrily. The blue hedgehog was taken aback by this, even backing away a little. "Don't look so surprised!" Tails scoffed. "I saw you on my camera, I know you're someone else! You must have some kind of device on you that helps disguise you."

Amy blinked several times. "W-Wait, what?"

"I saw a different person on my cameras. When I was tampering with my wave-link machine, it had to have disrupted something that was on this person. It wasn't some color error on my screen, I know that for sure because I saw it the first time you came to my house!" He yelled as he balled his hands in fists. To this, the blue hedgehog began to back away even more until he reached the steps that lead out of the alley. He backed up all the way to the top step and looked absolutely offended at his friends' behaviors. "Well?" Tails called. "What do you have to say for yourself? Who are you!?"

"..." Sonic squinted his eyes with a disappointed frown, and crossed his arms. "...How cruel." He suddenly said. It was a low tone, but it surely didn't sound much like Sonic. It did, but at the same time, it didn't...

"Thought you said you had a sore throat?" Tails retorted.

"I guess I don't anymore, kid." Sonic shrugged with a growing smirk.

Amy just shook her head back and forth. "No no...This is-So you're really _not_ Sonic?" She asked in disbelief. "B-But-"

He looked down at her like a peasant. "I 'look just like him'? I've been told that all my life."

Knuckles shoved his fist into the wall, gaining the 'hero's' attention. "Then quit being difficult! Just admit it already! _You're not Sonic!_ "

The hedgehog just shook his head and raised his hands up in another shrug. "Who knows?"

"The hell with it!" Knuckles yelled before making a sprinting start and throwing his fist into the face of the person who dared to wear his friend's face. Once he landed the hit, he realized he hit nothing but air. He growled and turned to the side to see Sonic leaning against the wall, still with a shit-eating grin.

"You're too slow~" He lightly sung.

"Son of a-" Knuckles was about to attack again, until he was held back by Amy.

"Quit it already!" She demanded. "You don't even know who you're really up against!" Amy clenched her teeth and angrily looked at the man she thought was her crush. "We don't know who this guy is."

"Whatever he is," Tails spoke up, still glaring at the fake Sonic. "He needs to be detained. At least for questioning or something. Maybe I can get in contact with Rouge, and let her and Shadow deal with it. Hand him over to GUN."

With dilated, disbelieving eyes, they all watched as the person they thought was their hero, lower his eyes sadly at the ground before closing them. What did he seem upset about? He held up his hand and hugged his own arm to himself, as if trying to give himself comfort. Even though his posture seemed dejected, he was starting to grow an odd smile on his face. In just a second, his scowl grew into a smirk. Soon, they watched as his body slightly shook as he began to giggle. In a few seconds, he was full on laughing at this point, cackling loudly like a mad man. He then broke his lips into a wide eerie grin. Sharp fangs, gleaming white, all showing in glee. Nothing but sinister, malicious intent spreading throughout the entire city in just one expression. His now shrunken eyes looking at them with malevolent pupils, almost slit like a viper's.

"Ahaha!" He snickered. "Hahaha, ahahaha!"

No one knew what to think, once he said his next choice of words. He looked straight down at the kitsune, and tried to hold back his giggles.

"Ahh," He exhaled from laughing so hard. How funny. They all thought they would have him vulnerable. After they all, he wasn't actually trapped with them. "Tails, I'm so sorry I couldn't be a better big brother to you." He apologized, his voice changing more. That, wasn't the voice they all knew. It was gruffer, maybe even raspier. It almost sounded like a darker person took over and spoke instead. No wonder he never spoke, his voice alone would have revealed he wasn't whom he said. "But, this is where _my_ plan begins!" He exclaimed. "And _no one,_ " He backed one leg behind the other, his knees lightly buckling. "Is gonna stop me!" He yelled.

He wasn't trapped with them.

They, at that moment, were trapped with _him._

In maybe the next two split seconds, Tails found himself being sucker punched, right in the jaw, and flew against the opposite wall. He heard Knuckles and Amy yell his name, and heard more grunts and wails of pain. Right before his vision failed him, he saw once more...that the blue hedgehog that stood before him, changed into green once again, with bright blue eyes.

 **1 - END**

 **Not my first time in the Sonic section of this site. Many don't know this, but this is where I started. I did however, delete my old stories that were here. After all, they sucked. But now I return to my old home, just to get my feet dug in with this chapter of this new story I've been developing for a year. So what do I have to say to anyone who cares to view this story?**

 **Well for one, sorry for a chapter of boringness. It was all just anticipation for what's to come. I don't really wanna spoil anything, but let's be real, the person at the end of the story isn't Sonic. It's someone we all know and love. Someone who I desperately wish would make an appearance in the comics once more.**

 **For those who get the obvious hints, let me jus say this. This story is not strictly set in any Sonic universe. In a way, it's a combination of both the comics and the games. I have yet to see someone write a good story about the anti-characters, so I developed my own. (There _are_ a couple good ones, but they never make the anti-characters evil enough for me.) Hopefully it is indeed good enough for those who wish to see an anti-Sonic story done right, with lots of villainy goodness. **

**And oh yes, he won't be the only hedgehog running amok in this story. It's gonna be hedgehog-galore in this story. And it won't be set on just him of course. Also, don't worry. This story is strictly Sonic x Shadow, but...Well, I'll leave that for later. Don't want to let out anymore info.**

 **Have a nice day. I'll see you later.**


	2. Your King Has Arrived!

**2 - Your King Has Arrived!**

* * *

The ivory bat rubbed her delicate fingers against her earpiece as she listened in to it. She was holding up a small device that acted like a speaker to pick up sounds far away. Right now, she was sitting against a rooftop, looking down at four kids bicker. Children that she was very familiar with. That pink Rose girl, the little orange fox who was much smarter than most would think, her oh so lovely red knucklehead, and of course...Big Blue himself. But, according to the conversation she was eavesdropping on, this wasn't the case. Her wings fluttered as she leaned her palm against her chin with her legs crossed.

The three were interrogating Big Blue about not being the real Sonic. She was flying to the GUN base in town when she suddenly heard some yelling. Then, she sat down and began to listen. As it was getting juicy, she made contact with her partner just in case things turned for the worst. But once this 'Sonic' started to talk, she let the ultimate life form know to be ready to step in when she made the signal. Because the things coming from his mouth, sounded very villain worthy in her opinion.

Then, she blinked.

She shouldn't have.

Because once she did, she gasped to herself. She watched Sonic shoved his fist right into the little fox's jaw, sending him straight into the wall of the abandoned building. She immediately stood up and called for her partner to make a move now. And then, she saw Sonic turn around, and look right up at her with a creepy grin. She flinched, and glared at him. Then, she saw a flash of green from the corner of her eye. To that, she smirked back at the fake Sonic. "Perfect timing." She turned to face her partner, who was conveying the situation. His expression was stoic for the most part, until he saw the kitsune on the ground, laying unresponsive while Knuckles and Amy tried their best to wake him up. His ruby eyes widened, not expecting to see the Hero of Mobius strike his own little brother.

The black hedgehog just scowled. He had no idea what was up with faker this time, but _this_ faker obviously wasn't the real deal. He had no idea where Sonic went, but after this, he had better get his ass home and now. "I'll drive him out of the city. You get the kid. Call in for back up to secure any nearby citizens."

"Aww, you care?"

"Now's not the time." He quickly cut her off from her teasing. "If faker comes back and finds out that his kid was hurt while we did nothing to stop it, I'll never hear the end of it. From both GUN _and_ him."

"I'm surprised you two keep in touch." She said as they both walked towards the edge of the rooftop. "Go when you're ready. I'm right behind you." She assured.

 _Keep in touch? Tch, not recently._ He mumbled to himself. "Let's get moving."

* * *

"You _bastard!_ " Knuckles hollered as he charged towards the fake Sonic. The hedgehog swiftly moved out of the way, and moved his body more as Knuckles' fists kept coming. And he did so with barely any effort considering his speed. He dipped and turned and even whistled casually. Well, at least he dodged like the real Sonic. "You get off on hurting little kids!?" He yelled before grunting as he thrust his arm into another punch.

Sonic just hummed, saying nothing back as he continued to dodge. And then, he went on the offensive. With one more dodge, he instantly seized the fist that tried to hit him, and pulled it along with Knuckles' entire body weight. With great strength and no effort, he tossed the echidna over to the side into the building that was next door to the alleyway, smashing right through it. With a high pitched war cry that almost made his ears bleed, the pink hedgehog ran forward and swung down her Piko Piko hammer. The fake Sonic of course had no trouble dodging any of her attacks, being too slow for him.

So, he turned and swung his leg right into her abdomen. All of the wind knocked out of her, and she fell to her knees instantly. She coughed up spit and fell down to her side, while her hammer dropped to the ground. All three of his friends, down in only minutes.

"Enough." A deep voice announced. A flash of green came into view, and before his eyes, stood the notorious Shadow the Hedgehog. Now that was bad. Not because he couldn't fight him, but because he knew if the hedgehog tried to trigger any chaotic abilities, his entire charade would fail. And he didn't want that, at least not yet. "You're not the faker I know of." He concluded as he slowly walked towards the fake hero. Rouge flapped her wings as she landed softly on the ground on her heels, and quickly went over to Tails. She knelt down beside him and checked to see if he was even alive.

Seeing her again, made the imposter smile to himself. Ah the good old days. "I haven't seen you in a very long time." The fake Sonic murmured as he began to step backwards. To this, they both seemed a little put off by this response, but it didn't stop Shadow from coming closer. "And I oh so hate to be a party pooper. But I've got places to be."

And once he said the word 'be', he had already booked it out of there in a gust of wind. Shadow growled, and quickly teleported away. Rouge managed to get the fox to wake up, and got ready to move to the rest of the gang. She held up her hand and pressed her gloved finger to her ear piece. "GUN headquarters, send back up and paramedics immediately-" She stopped once she felt a tug at her ankle. It was the kid, almost lifeless. He struggled to hold his head up, but once he managed to do it, he looked at her with glossy eyes. "I-I know...Who that was." He weakly warned, blood dripping down his chin. "M-Make everyone..in the city...evacuate..now..." Then, he sniffed and gritted his teeth, making her feel sorry for the child. "..Please, Rouge." He begged.

With furrowed brows, the white bat sighed and nodded.

* * *

Red gold-buckled sneakers stomped across the streets of Station Square as he ran into traffic, not giving a damn about the cars that screeched in their path to stop. One almost toppled over and crashed into a child due to his reckless running. He didn't care for anything in his way, or any consequence for his actions. This was _his_ time, his plan going into motion, and he'd make sure it would go through all the way. Shadow quickly followed after him, yelling for citizens to get out of the way and go home if they didn't want to get hurt.

As the black hedgehog tailed the faker, he realized he wasn't running nearly as fast as Sonic normally did. And Shadow would have already grabbed him if it weren't for the people in the way. So he was purposely running slow, just to taunt him that he couldn't catch him, but come just close enough for him to be right on his ass. He was toying with him.

'Sonic' looked behind him with a smirk and made a peace sign towards the ebony hedgehog. Shadow felt a vein pop on his forehead. He charged something in his hand that made a small red light that began growing slightly bigger. "Chaos..." Analyzing where to aim so he could nail his target, he winded his arm back and tossed the ball of light into the sky. Once in the air, small projectiles formed into spears that were targeting their victim. "Spear!" He yelled as he swung down his hand to activate the weapons of pure energy.

But then, once he did, he saw that his moving target became green for a second. Then blue again. A green hedgehog? No, maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. They followed the fake Sonic, and came directly at him like homing missiles. But, the fake already anticipated this. Right when the first spear was about to strike towards him, he swiftly turned completely around and dug his feet into the concrete of the street. He dodged the first few spears, but when the next three came, Shadow watched as the other hedgehog flipped into the air.

He twirled, making a complete 360. As he turned and twisted his body, he was actually moving it to catch the remaining spears in his own hands. Once they were in his grasp, he landed down gracefully and then darted towards Shadow at an alarming speed. He was so quick, Shadow barely had enough time to register his movements. He tried to dodge by making his skates screech to stop, and dip his body backwards. 'Sonic' tried to shove one right into Shadow's head, the next in his shoulder, and the last in his stomach. All spots that he missed by just the skin of his teeth. The spears disappeared in light particles, and Shadow quickly took a step back.

Then, the fake Sonic stood tall and proud at his opponent. He sneered. "Didn't think anyone could do that, did you?" He then out of thin air, spawned a chaos spear in his own palm, and twirled it like a swinging key chain.

Shadow said nothing as he tried to read his movements. He was way too puzzled to try and figure out how the hell this bastard did what he did. By now, cars turned immediately around, people ran away from the area. Though, some did get hurt. There were some injured people who crashed, and even a few injured children. He'd hear about this from GUN later. 'Sonic' suddenly made the spear disappear and put his fists on his hips with a smile.

"Well, let me show you what else I can do."

A black-murky aura surrounded the blue hedgehog in a matter of seconds. It then dispersed into his fists, similar to how Shadow did earlier. Then, it disappeared entirely. Shadow kept up his guard, fixing his posture to be ready for anything.

And literally in a flash, he was right in front of him. He shoved his fist directly into Shadow's cheek, making him fly across the road. He landed hard, even destroying some of the concrete, like a rocket crash landing. He grunted in pain, but got right back up, only to find the fake Sonic right above him in the air with his leg stretched out. His heel devastatingly in position for a brutal axe-kick. Shadow managed to move just in time, but even when the other hedgehog made an impact on the ground, it made him lose his balance.

Shadow realized right then, this was _not_ an ordinary enemy.

With a worried scowl, he held up his hand that was engulfed in red chaos energy. Suddenly, molded from the depths of his power, sword-like lances formed in the sky. It aimed directly at his enemy once more, and flew down like meteorites. This time, he put more power into them, so they flew much quicker. The fake Sonic couldn't dodge from it in time, and got slashed at his arm and legs. But, it didn't knock him down. So with a smirk thinking Shadow failed, he took a step forward to run towards him.

But...Then he couldn't move.

Blinking several times, he looked down at his limbs, to see that they were being constricted by red wire-like energy. His arms and legs, all wrapped up in a spider's bloody web. He grunted and tried with all of his might to break them, but he ended up making himself lose balance. Shadow moved his hand as if he was pulling something back, so the wires tightened. The hedgehog fell backwards with a yelp.

* * *

"Now talk." Shadow commanded as he gripped the side of his enemy's face. He was knelt over him, completely at his submission.

"Nah ah ah," He taunted. "Not until you say the magic word- _Argh!_ " He was socked in the face in response. As blood trickled down his lips, he just began laughing.

"Who are you?" He asked loudly with an irritated tone. "Did the Doctor send you?"

"Doctor? Oh, you mean _your_ Eggman. I already took care of him."

"What?" Shadow blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Elaborate."

The fake Sonic just sighed with a smile. "Let's just say the reason why he hasn't been making a move, is because I paid him a visit one year ago." He looked Shadow right in the eye and spat blood right into his face. The ebony hedgehog tried his best to contain his composure, before giving another sock to the jaw. "Ngh!" He moaned in pain, until it began to sound sultry. " _Nmm,_ yeah daddy more~"

"..?!" Shadow's eyes widened in shock while his face slightly heated up. Did he just-?

"If it wasn't obvious, I'm a glutton for punishment. Hahaha.." He cackled. "No but seriously, you just made things ten times hotter, dude."

One word. _Ew._

Shadow made a sound of disgust and withdrew his hand from his face. Okay, that solidified the fact that this bastard definitely wasn't Sonic. "I'll ask again, damn it," Shadow's voice became a rising growl as he gripped his hand into his neck. The other just grinned, squinting his eyes from the pain. "Who the hell are you!?" He yelled.

"Someone you _don't_ wanna fuck with." He coughed out. "Don't worry, I'll explain soon-" He made a strangled gasp, falling limp against the ground. His limbs were constricted by Shadow's chaos wires that were entangling him. He couldn't get away or fight back. He was barely conscious, his mouth widening to attempt to get air into his body. But it was futile, Shadow's fingers were strangling him. His legs twitched underneath him, his heart beat racing faster.

But, wearing his rival's face, wearing Sonic's face...

...He couldn't.

Shadow scoffed at himself and let go of the other hedgehog. He stood up from his body and dragged his gloved hand over his face. Chaos, what was wrong with him?

The other coughed against the street ground, breathing and panting heavily to get air back into his lungs. But then, he started giggling again. "Y-You...Hahaha, I can't believe it.." He croaked. Shadow whipped his head towards him with an enraged expression. He was done with the games. He was pissing him off more and more by just breathing. "You two totally fucked, didn't you? Hahaha!"

Shadow winced at his words, looking away sharply with gritted teeth.

"Ha! I'm so right!" The fake hedgehog giggled. "Oh no wait, don't tell me. You two were never a thing, you just have a crush on him! Pffft! The ultimate life form's lovesick!"

With a huff, Shadow stomped over and shoved his foot onto his enemy's stomach, making the oxygen poof right out of him again. His eyes shrunk at the sudden loss of air supply, and he continued to cough his organs out. "I'll give you one more chance." He said lowly. "Who are you?"

And then, the chaos wires snapped.

The hedgehog shot up from the ground, making Shadow fall over with the other on top of him. He slammed his hands down over his head with his thighs pinned down by his bottom sitting on top. He miscalculated the duration of his power, a silly mistake. "I have a crush on Blue too, you know." He whispered eerily. He leaned closer to Shadow's face, whom turned away with a glare. "The way you look at me. At my face, my eyes. You looked so betrayed and hurt it wasn't the real deal." He laid his head next to Shadow's, grinning. "If I'm so wrong..." He trailed off, leaning back up and looking Shadow directly in the eyes.

It was like he _did_ see the real Sonic.

His eyes, his quills, his face...everything looked normal again. His eyes even looked innocent and happy.

"Then kiss me."

 _No. He's not..._

 _He's not..!_

"Heheh. Just kidding."

And then Shadow was thrown into the building across the street, falling through the glass of the windows right in the shop. He groaned in pain, not getting up straight away.

"Sorry to end the fun Stripes, but I got someone waiting for me. The very person you desire is in my bed after all~ Hahaha." He turned around and jay-walked his way down the street. In a streak of blue and then green light, he was gone in mere breezes of wind. The black hedgehog pulled himself up from the broken rubble of glass and stood on his feet. He pulled some shards out of his fur, and hissed at the pain. Shadow had failed, ending up letting the enemy go. This was truly embarrassing. And, damn..Was it _that_ obvious that he-No. That wasn't important right now. Judging from the cryptic things he said, this criminal definitely had Sonic in his clutches. Probably captive somewhere. According to the feed Rouge was giving while listening in on Sonic's friends, Tails saw the exact same thing Shadow did. A green hedgehog for a split second, and then back to blue.

He needed to regroup with them and talk.

* * *

GUN soldiers were swarming the city at this point. The main HQ wasn't located in Station Square, but a branch did lie watching the streets silently. Some were checking on it's citizens downtown, while some were taking to the rooftops to search for this criminal. After only maybe half an hour, news reporters in helicopters were roaming the streets talking about the incident that just happened. Cameras zoomed in on wrecked cars, mortally injured bystanders that were being aided on the streets, and terrified and confused witnesses who just stood by their houses. In disbelief that they watched their 'hero' do these despicable things.

Rouge quickly round up the others after giving them medical attention. She got them sent home afterwards, but there was one person of interest she kept at her side. She took Tails to the HQ's branch. For a couple reasons. For one, to prove that what everyone saw wasn't the real Sonic. And two, to get some info about who that imposter was. Once she got word from Shadow on her earpiece that the bastard ended up getting away, she agreed to meet up with him at the GUN building.

As the pink hedgehog traveled to her own home, she had to walk by the reporters who had crowds of people and even authorities listening in with camera crews. The Mobian reporter who was a black cat with a purple suit, was retelling the story of what happened. The hedgehog hoped to Chaos they didn't screw up or conceal any information for ratings.

She looked down at her stomach, realizing the pain she felt earlier was all gone. She wasn't even sore. Once she came to, she saw Rouge look at her in bewilderment, saying she didn't even get the medics yet. Meaning she must have woke up pretty fast after the hit. It was strange, why wasn't she hurt? And Knuckles seemed okay too, even though he smashed through a building. But, when she saw him, he was never tossed through a building, he was just slumped against one. Like it never happened. Once everyone was up, everyone said they felt dizzy, like they needed to go to bed.

She wondered...was all that from the fake Sonic? Seeing and feeling things that didn't happen? For instance, like everyone thinking the fake looked like Sonic, when he probably doesn't look that way at all. Was he playing games with their eyes or something..?

Her ears suddenly perked up at the reporter.

"I'm suddenly getting word from GUN, stating that the person who just ran through the city wasn't Mobius' Hero at all, but some kind of imposter. Unfortunately, the said criminal got away and they could not take him for questioning. But the real Sonic the Hedgehog still has yet to be seen. GUN has stated that if the hero doesn't make an appearance in the next few days, they and local authorities will officially declare him as missing."

Missing? No, what if that person knew where Sonic was? What if-What if they had him hostage..!?

...Her head was spinning. She needed to go home right now. Maybe Cream's mom would make her some warm tea before heading off to bed.

Or, she could go back to Tails' place and discuss what was going on.

Yeah, she'd do the latter.

* * *

"I'm telling you, you gotta get these people out of this city! It's dangerous here!" The fox pleaded with the tall human man. The man that held wrinkles littered on his skin that created layers and layers of depth, just looked down at the child with suspicion. He didn't really buy this story he was telling. Rouge had escorted the fox right to his office, who seemed pretty healthy once he came to. Shadow came only moments later, battered up and in a pretty pissy mood. He just stood by, his arms crossed with his bruises slowly healing up in the back of the room.

Odd...How come Shadow had bruises, but the others didn't?

"For what? A petty criminal wearing your hero's face?"

"Excuse me for interrupting hun," Rouge interrupted with a concerned look on her face. "But this isn't just some 'petty criminal'. Shadow even had a hard time dealing with him, and he got away." She pointed out. The black hedgehog in question just scoffed. The tall human still didn't seem that convinced.

"We've seen much worse than this. If what you say is true, then I'll have Team Dark dispatched to investigate. As for you," The man pointed to Tails with a permanent frown. "No one will be evacuated until I'm given more information about this person, and more proof." He turned away from the kid fox who was just about to angrily spout out a bunch of protests. He fixed his tie and crossed his arms behind his back. "We will have soldiers patrolling the city, but we won't go as far as evacuation. That would call for a national emergency, and that isn't the case here."

Tails just shook his head and tried getting up out of his seat that was in front of the commander's desk. "B-But-!"

"Rouge, Shadow, I've already given all the necessary information to your smart devices. See to it that you analyze it thoroughly and do what you must to find this imposter." He held up his hand as a gesture for them to leave. "You are dismissed."

Rouge just silently sighed and shook her head while looking at the small kitsune. That was her way of saying, there was no changing the man's mind. It was already made up, and until they did what he commanded them to do, nothing would be done. With a huff, the two tailed fox turned away and followed the bat out. Shadow followed as well, walking beside Rouge down the long corridor.

"You didn't elaborate that much," Shadow suddenly said, briefly glancing down at the fox. "You seemed more cryptic than informative."

The ivory bat snorted a laugh. "He's not wrong." She looked down at Tails as she moved her hips to walk. "We understand you're scared little one, but you could have talked a little better than that. It seemed more like crazy nonsense than a warning."

Tails groaned and dragged his hand through his head of fur. "You're right. I..Was just rambling. But," He looked down at the polished floor. "I _am_ scared. You don't understand. It's a long story, but this guy is seriously bad news. When I woke up, I just knew I had to say something, but it didn't come out like I planned. Darn it.." He mildly cursed squeezing eyes shut and shaking his head in frustration.

"Who is this guy exactly?" Shadow demanded with a quietly grounded tone.

Tails sighed heavily. "It's a seriously long story. And, no offense to you guys, but I really don't feel comfortable talking here. It feels like I'm being watched-"

"There _are_ security cameras here, honey." Rouge pointed out.

"Right. So if you don't mind, I'll explain everything at my house."

This made Rouge internally groan. She really didn't feel like going over some kid's house for some exposition. But, if they were gonna get any leads on this Sonic imposter guy, they needed all the info they could get. And she had never saw the kitsune look so afraid before in the few times she fought alongside him. When he woke up, she remembered his expression clearly. It was like the embodiment of hell looked him in the face that day. This guy, had to have been a real problem.

Guess a little visit couldn't hurt.

* * *

The white bat sat down on the modern sofa, crossing her legs and leaning her elbow on her knee to hold up her chin. She kept her wings tucked behind her so she couldn't bother the furniture. Shadow was next to her at a fair distance, having his hands folded between his legs. They both kept their attention specifically on Tails, ready to listen about just how bad this guy really was.

They could tell by the way he was fidgeting in his chair, that he didn't seem too comfortable to talk about it. He kept making odd and difficult expressions, like he was trying to figure out ways to word what he was going to say next. He took in a small breath, and quickly exhaled before looking at the agents directly in the eyes.

He didn't give them tea, or anything for that matter. He wanted them to focus on only what he would say at this moment and time.

"There's another dimension in this world. A dimension that has another world that's parallel to ours, but exactly the opposite."

This made them both raise their brows a bit.

"In this opposite world called _**Moebius**_ , everyone you know in this world, is the exact opposite in that world. For example, Knuckles. He's short-tempered and resorts to violence pretty quickly, right?" Tails asked. They both nodded slowly in return. "Well in that world, he's a pacifist who hates violence. He hates the very idea of violence. The island that Knuckles lives on isn't Angel Island, but Demon Island. And it's not in the sky, it's underneath their oceans."

Rouge started to shake her head and wave her hand back and forth to try and get Tails to stop. "Wait wait and wait. So you're telling me, that knucklehead is a big pushover?" She began to laugh. "In what world?"

"In _that world._ Moebius. That's how everything is, everything you don't expect it to be. And there's an opposite to everyone. You can even ask Knuckles yourself, he fought him before."

Rouge just chuckled and flagged this off. "Oh yeah? What's the opposite me like?"

"I honestly don't know." Tails frowned, knowing she wasn't taking this too seriously. She probably didn't believe him. "I haven't met yours, or Shadow's before. I've only met Amy's, Knuckles', my own and Sonic's."

Shadow leaned back in his seat. "So let me guess, the opposite Sonic that you're telling us about must be the imposter I chased after."

The fox nodded quickly, satisfied Shadow was starting to get it. "Exactly!" He exclaimed. "There's an anti-Sonic in that world, who's more evil than you can imagine. Think about it, if Sonic's a hero in this world, what do you think he'd be as an opposite?"

The white bat who was cracking jokes before, soon faltered her smile into a flat line. She just realized the depth of the situation. "A criminal."

Tails nodded again. "Right. But not just a mere criminal-"

Shadow's red eyes began to widen. "-But a serious big threat."

The fox nodded once more, sighing in relief that they finally realized just how bad the situation was. "Listen, that guy..." Tails started to shake his head slowly, not wanting to remember. His blue eyes fell to his lap, shaking in fear at his memories. "That guy was powerful. That guy was evil. Pure evil. He was worse than any Eggman or Metal Sonic anybody could think of. H-He..." He put his hands up to the sides of his head and gripped his fur. "He's a monster. He killed people. He destroyed cities and homes. He was the very essence of your worst nightmare," He looked up at them, his clear sky blue orbs rattling against their eyeballs. "He was a consequence of their Sonic turning bad."

To this, Rouge's eyes began to shrink a little. "This...person, he's a blue hedgehog, right?" She asked worriedly. And it was obvious in her voice, making Shadow look over at her with a skeptical glare.

Tails seemed a little confused by the question. "Well, he used to be. For some reason he had turned green after a while. Why?"

"Oh no." Rouge face palmed and cursed to herself. "Damn it." She mumbled.

"You knew, didn't you?" Shadow scowled. "You know exactly who this bastard is, don't you?" He angrily moved closer toward her, demanding answers. The bat made a nervous smile, holding her hands up.

"Now just wait a minute-"

"Don't give me bullshit, you're not talking your way out of this." He growled.

"It was just a small heist, I didn't even know you at the time!"

"You helped our enemy."

Tails just stared in shock. "No, seriously, you're kidding right? H-How do you know him!?"

Rouge mentally screamed to himself. Damn, she always found some way to get herself into shit. "I was temporarily partners with the anti-Sonic. He was on Mobius for some reason, and I needed help on a heist to steal the Master Emerald. One thing led to another, and he managed to literally get his hands on it. But..." She narrowed her eyes. "Something happened. He tried to transform or something, I think a super form." She just closed her eyes and silently exhaled. "It failed. Something in the Master Emerald rejected him, and it only had half of an effect on him, turning him the way he is now. Green."

"Y-You-" Tails dragged his fingers over his eyes. "Thanks to you, he's super strong now. No wonder he was able to beat Sonic so easily.."

Rouge just scoffed. "It's in the past. Nothing anyone can do now."

Shadow just looked away. "Tch."

Tails scratched his head. "Anyway, we haven't heard from him in a long time. But the last time we did see him, he beat all of us to nothing. He beat Sonic by himself no problem. The only reason Sonic was able to ward him off, was because he turned Super. But now, I have no idea what he could be up to." The orange fox frowned heavily while biting his lip anxiously. "And I'd bet all of Sonic's rings that he has him hostage somewhere in Moebius."

"Then that's where we go." Shadow declared as he stood up from his seat. Tails immediately began to protest to this.

"What?! No no no, you can't go after him! He's insane!"

That word in particular made Shadow stop his movements. Insane? He turned and glanced at the kid. "What do you mean, insane?"

"He _killed_ people. He tortured people. Heck, he's probably doing horrible stuff to Sonic right now. He's above Eggman's level of insane!" He exclaimed. "You can't go after him, at least not by yourself. Please, let me help you. I don't want him to get to you too!" He pleaded. "I'm terrified for Sonic's safety, but I don't want anyone else to get hurt!"

They didn't know each other very well. And they only ever interacted when they needed to work together. Why was this kid being so protective of them like this? He really didn't want them to risk their lives for this. Obviously because he feared what this anti-Sonic might do to them, but it seemed like it was because he just cared about them. Two strangers. How odd. Maybe his child innocence was responsible. After all, he wasn't even a teenager yet.

They looked at each other after seeing Tails' eyes. They were slightly moist, sorrowful and wide. The kistune was very serious about this. For his sake, they could comply and play nice for a while. Shadow put his hands on his hips and slowly exhaled.

"Do you have a plan, then?" The ebony hedgehog questioned.

Tails looked down again and shook his head. "I-I don't but-"

A heavy knock interrupted their conversation. Shadow walked over to the entrance of the house. He gripped his hand onto the knob of the door and turned it. He pulled open the door and saw two people who eagerly were waiting to get inside. It was the Rose girl and that red echidna. No doubt the fox wanted them to come in, so he stepped aside, and allowed them to travel inside. The red echidna gave a glare at Shadow, who gladly gave a glare back as he walked through. Amy gave him one as well, not very trustworthy of either him or Rouge.

They rushed to Tails' side and began looking all over him. Asking over and over if he was okay, if anything hurt or if anything felt sore. Tails tried to get them to calm down, saying he was absolutely fine and for some reason, didn't feel any pain at all from what happened earlier. He quickly explained that he was telling Shadow and Rouge the identity of the imposter. And once he uttered the name, the two Mobians' eyes widened in shock and anger. Tails tried his best to relay some kind of idea to form a plan.

"Right now we gotta come up with a plan, and a way to get to Moebius. Sonic has to be-"

Another knock on the door. This time, much harder and louder, and with a voice singing outside. _Anybody hooome~? Your hero's returned~!_

The group instantly rushed outside at the familiar voice. Rouge had GUN on speed dial, and Shadow, though wounded, was ready to fight again. Tails was well prepared for anything he was about to see. Amy was ready to summon her hammers in her hand, to smash and destroy. Knuckles cracked his namesakes once again that day, and gritted his teeth.

Once outside, they got in position to strike at any moment.

And at that moment, they didn't see the fake Sonic. No, they saw a green hedgehog. A green hedgehog with piercing blue ice cold eyes, a plain black leather jacket with pockets and silver zippers, one black fingerless glove, black combat boots and red dark shaded glasses sitting on his head. The jacket was open, revealing the large scar on his chest. There were smaller scars on his cheeks, ears and quills. One of his hands had black polish on its nails, while the other didn't, oddly. This was definitely a much more different outfit than what they saw last time.

"Hey." The hedgehog smiled as a sneer. He glanced at all of his victims, smirking. His deeper, rougher Sonic-like voice struck them. Making them sure that this wasn't their hero at all, but the imposter that ran out of the city earlier today. "I came to give you all a present." He took one step closer, making Amy and Tails flinch. "But first," He looked at Rouge and grinned. "I gotta say hi to my old bestie. My ol' partner in crime!" He greeted cheerfully with his arms wide open. "Ah remember the good ol' days when I tried to _hit it_?"

The bat looked away in revulsion and rolled her eye-shadowed eyes. "In your dreams.." She muttered.

"Nm. Sometimes." He winked. Then, he looked at Tails. He applauded him and began to chuckle. "As for you, you got me good. And so quickly too, I'm impressed kid." He took one more step closer, making everyone put their guard up instantly.

Knuckles snarled. "Take one more step and I'll shove your face into the ground!" He yelled.

"But I got something real nice to show you." Though, the green hedgehog didn't heed his warning and only came closer. He said one thing, that made chills drill Tails' spinal cord. "Wanna see somethin' cool?"

* * *

 **END - 2**


	3. Chase

**3 - Chase**

* * *

The vulpine never thought he'd have to see this person again. Not again.

Not after that horrible incident. He thought after Sonic had defeated him, they'd never have to see his muzzle for the rest of their lives. He was in a different world for Chaos' sake. He could have sworn he was arrested by someone as well. What happened to that? Did he some how break out or something? And how was he here? The only way he could have gotten to Mobius Prime was a...No. No! How the heck did he get his hands on a warp ring!? That was the only explanation for his appearance here. Otherwise his existence here was not only completely unethical, but impossible.

As Tails tried his very best to wrap his head around the fact that the green hedgehog was now in their world, said hedgehog managed to snap him out of it by saying one thing.

"Wanna see somethin' cool?" He leered.

No one responded back, only continuing to glare at their new-found enemy. But that was a-okay with him. He wanted silence for this.

"Well alright then." He shrugged. "But make sure you watch closely!" He reminded with an index finger held up. Then, he stared. His eyes not particularly looking at anyone, but all five people at once. His ice-shattering, tundra-like eyes glinted ominously. Then, they saw a red vortex pool inside of them. Like, red hypnotic swirls. When they disappeared in only a few seconds later, his cold eyes were back again. But this time, not blue, but green. The now _blue_ hedgehog twirled himself around, grabbing hold of his own jacket and tossing it off like a bull-fighter flinging around a red veil.

He did a little dance, tapping and swerving his feet like a professional entertainer as he twirled his jacket in the air. He made a big finish, by posing. He suddenly made his body come to a halt, with one arm up to hold up his layer of clothing, and the other with his hand on his hip. He grinned once he saw their faces. "Tadah!" He winked. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

"...!" No one could say anything. What could anyone say? It would all be the same question repeated. How, and why was he able to do that? When Shadow saw this happen before his red eyes, he immediately got an idea of what occurred, but he definitely wasn't positive. All he knew was that he felt the same surge of energy he felt when he fought this impostor. When he first saw him flash to green. It felt like a surge of chaos energy, and he only saw a glimpse of this person when he used his own chaos abilities. Could it have some kind of...Malfunction, if someone else exposes chaos energy upon this person? "Tails," Shadow suddenly said.

The kitsune flinched and looked up at the dark mobian. "Y-Yeah?"

"According to Rouge, you told your friends that you first saw this impostor turn from blue to green on the screen of your device. Was that device powered by something that was similar to chaos?" He asked while keeping his eyes dead set on his opponent, who kept that big smile planted on his face. His eyes were narrowing though, like he was daring for Shadow to figure it all out right here and now. His face was even darkening.

Tails gulped, and nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah. I managed to forge a fake chaos emerald and that's what I used to power it."

"As I thought." Shadow concluded. "I saw this happen as well. Right before I used my chaos spear on him down town."

The fake Sonic took off the shades that sat on his head and twirled them in his ungloved hand. Weird. Why was he suddenly not wearing the Sonic attire, but only his fur color? At this point, Knuckles was getting more than furious with all of this madness. He wanted an explanation and he wanted one now.

"Quit standing there looking smug! Explain yourself, freak!"

"F-Freak...?" The fake Sonic lightly gasped in shock at such cruel words. Suddenly, his green fur quickly faded back onto his body and he slowly put back on his jacket. He put his hand to his heart and held his chest in great horror. "Why, why would you say that to me, Knux?" He innocently asked as his voice began to disturbingly mimic Sonic's perfectly. "I thought you were my buddy." He dramatized as his blue eyes began to water.

"Y-You..!" Knuckles bit back his tongue to keep himself from spewing curses.

The green hedgehog laughed in response and waved his hand back and forth. "Oh shit, that never gets old! Hahaha!" He put his shades back on the top of his head and put his fists on his hips. He cleared his throat, and once again began to speak. But this time, his voice changed to a more regal voice, like he was royalty. "You poor peasants seem to have fallen victim to a case of _extreme_ shameless ignorance! Allow me to clarify my kingly, and faultless individuality!"

Amy found herself squinting very hard at this person.

The hedgehog raised one of his hands to his head, pointing his finger to his forehead, and then holding it out and pointing straight towards the pink hedgehog. She winced, but her body soon fell limp with her eyes growing wide and empty. "For I am, lowly commoners," All while keeping his finger pointed at Amy, who seemed to be under some kind of spell, he dropped the 'king personality' and used his other hand to put up his thumb to his chest. Declaring who he truly was. " **Scourge** the _motha fuckin'_ Hedgehog!"

With less of a playful smile, he smirked evilly and closed the hand that was pointing at Amy into a fist. Once he did that, she gripped the sides of her head and screeched in pain. She fell to her knees and planted her face into the grass. She refused to get back up, shivering and whimpering from the agony. Her head was pounding, smacking against her skull like rocks.

"You son of a-!" Knuckles tried charging towards the hedgehog, but once he took one measly step, he found himself in the same spot again. He tried once more, but the green hedgehog wouldn't allow it. His eyes would glint every time he took a move, and put him back in his place. Literally. "The hell is this?!"

"Knuckles, you're running around in circles, just stop already!" Tails yelled.

"Running in circles..?!" Knuckles looked down at his own feet, realizing he wasn't even standing in the same position anymore. The hell just happened!?

Shadow briefly looked down at Tails, while still feeling his body become tense at the presence of this new enemy. "So this, is the **Anti-Sonic**?"

Tails hesitantly nodded yes, hating the answer. "Unfortunately for all of us, yes."

Scourge cleared his throat, trying to get everyone's attention again. "Lemme explain somethin' real quick, kay? If anyone else wants to try and come at me, I'll melt Pinky's brains over here." He cocked his brow at Amy, who was still on the ground trembling. The others reluctantly did nothing as instructed, but their guards fully up. "Of course, I'm not gonna say who it was who gave it to me, but I was given a very strong ability a few weeks ago. Not gonna lie, I've been kinda abusing it. Maybe just a little." He slowly lowered his fist down to the ground, and Amy's pain decreased as it did. "Basically, I have the power to use a certain chaos ability none of you can achieve. I can hypnotize or mind-fuck any of you with just one stare at my eyes."

" _Bull!_ " Knuckles shouted. "You really expect me to believe something like that!? You really think we're that stupid?"

Scourge darted his eyes somewhere else with a light laugh. "Well, I mean if you want me to be frank-"

The echidna snarled in response.

"Anyways," The hedgehog rolled his eyes. "You know that whole brainwashing thing that crazy cultists do? Yeah it's like that, just a _whole_ lot worse. Think of it as a trippy-ass hallucination."

Shadow couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was actually an ability that could do that? Why did he never discover this? He said it was something no one else could achieve. Perhaps this was a power only someone from his world could have? No, he said it was given to him by someone whom he wouldn't name. Who the hell could have that ability? He tried racking his brain, but nothing came to mind.

"Nah, see, I can make you think you just got hit by a train. I could make you imagine the train that hit you. I could make you see dead loved ones from the past. I can make you see anything I want you to see, and I can see all of your secrets. I see _everything_. Everything that breaks you, and spiral you down into true despair." He began to cackle creepily as he tossed his head back. "Hahaha!" His regal voice came back to him again. "For I have transcended the minds of mere mortals! Hohoho!"

The white bat worriedly looked down at the pink hedgehog, who seemed to have passed out.

"For instance," Scourge muttered in disgust at the girl. "I could make you think you're having a terrible migraine, when you're really not." He then glanced at Knuckles, who was an overcooked steamed vegetable at this point. That's how pissed he was. "Or, perhaps make you think you're running towards me, when you're actually just running in circles. Or," He smirked and looked at Tails. "Make you think you have injuries, and make you feel their pain. When in reality, I never touched you."

That's...That was why none of them but Shadow had wounds. He actually fought Shadow, but he made everyone else _think_ they got hurt.

He released his fisted hand, making Amy no longer his victim. However, it was probably too late for her. She had to be unconscious at this point.

"S-So," Tails nervously whispered. "You made us all think you were Sonic, when actually-"

Scourge made a rather exasperated grunt at the obvious deduction. "I _wasn't_? Uh yeah, that's what I was getting at. Wasn't quite done with the explanation yet, kid." He sucked his teeth and continued with his elaboration. "It's as the kid says. It was all in your heads. But, this ability uses chaos wavelengths to your brains. If someone were to tamper with something similar to chaos energy, it disrupts it. So that's why my little charade couldn't play out for too long."

Rouge just sharply turned her head away. "Tch. Either that, or you just really suck at acting, sweetie."

"Ooohh." Scourge smirked at her. "Such sass~ I like it."

"Why was your little disguise flawed?" Shadow crossed his arms. "Yes, you did look like faker. But if one were to look closely, one could easily see the imperfections of your attire. The scars, your body types, the list goes on. Not to mention, I hear you didn't even talk until you were confronted, which raised even more suspsicion. Why go with a plan that'd easily fail with constant red flags? If anything, you should have known Tails of all people would have some type of contraption that deals with chaos properties, which would ultimately fail your disguise. Not to mention, he knows faker best. He would easily figure you out to be an impostor by judging your actions." The black hedgehog looked down at the ground and shook his head. "I don't get it. You were practically setting yourself up to fail." He looked back up at Scourge, his teeth lightly clenched. "Why?"

Scourge put his hands in his black pockets and sighed in what sounded like bliss. "Finally, someone with good questions. So I'll gladly answer them for you, Stripes." The blue eyed Moebian placed himself on the ground and sat down on the soft grass. "You see my angsty emo friend," He politely insulted, making Shadow grit his teeth. "I'll tell you a teensy little secret, kay?" He tilted his head sweetly. "My power is limited. So, I can't make someone see me as Blue perfectly for too long. I had to keep up that disguise for days with the little brat around, and let me tell you, it was hard. Because of how much power that has to be used for keeping that up, my disguise had imperfections. If I had tried to keep up perfect appearances for that long, I would have ended up straining myself. Which is why I didn't talk. My regular voice would give my identity away almost immediately, and I can't mimic it like Blue's that often. If I had tried to make Tails think it was Blue's voice, along with a perfect disguise, I would have killed myself." He chuckled and flagged this off. "And we can't have that, now can we? Besides, I never planned to completely trick you. If anything, I was fuckin' with you."

Knuckles mumbled insults under his breath before commenting. "So you planned all of this crap?"

Scourge clapped his hands gleefully. "Yup yup and yup!" He cheered. "I never planned to stay in disguise for long. In fact, all this was just to pay a visit."

"T-To pay a visit?" Tails' mouth became agape, surprised at such a statement.

"Pfft, yeah." The green hedgehog raised one of his hands to his nose to pick it with his nail. "This was just my way of letting you guys know what's gonna go down. This is all _just huge foreshadowing._ " He looked at his nail and plucked whatever substance that was on it from his nostril boredly. "This is just a friendly welcome! From me to you. A welcome of what's to come!" He said excitedly, his nostrils now flaring. "Ah, but I must sadly say that this visit is just about over. I've given you the info I wanted to tell for so long. And now it's your job to figure out just how to beat me." The hedgehog turned around one hundred and eighty degrees with his hands on his hips once again. He marched away from the group, lightly tilting his head back and forth as he walked. Like he was singing a song in his own head. "Sayonara~!" He waved without looking back.

"Hey, wait a damn minute!" That same knucklehead shouted. Scourge mentally groaned in annoyance. He halted his movements, but still didn't look back. "Don't think you're gonna get away without telling us where Sonic is!" He growled, stomping right behind the green Moebian. In fact, he was at a very close distance. "I'll pound your face into the planet's core, don't screw with me."

The hedgehog felt a vein throb on his head.

But knuckles still continued to talk. "So you better keep talking, or else you'll wish you never-"

"Fucking _Chaos almighty_ , would you shut your fuckin' mouth already!?" Scourge hollered as he whipped his head towards the echidna, who seemed a bit put off by his reaction. "All you ever do is talk, talk, talk, shut the fuck up already! What are you!? My fuckin' pimp or somethin'? Get a damn life, or wait a fucking minute for a response! Didn't anyone teach you basic social interaction skills? Damn!" His teeth that were dangerously sharpened tightly clenched, his green ears were angrily flattened and his eyes were almost instantly bloodshot and shrunken. How did he go from zero to a thousand so fast? He made a low hiss, warning the echidna to get away, now. Even his quills stood up a bit. "Now get outta my damn face, before I shove my hand down your throat and happily rip out your voice box."

Despite that wordy and intense threat, Knuckles refused to move. He wasn't intimidated, and he certainly wasn't scared. He was too stubborn to realize the deep shit he dug himself into. He just stood there, and held up his fists in position to fight. To this, the green hedgehog closed his eyes and stressfully sighed. He knew this one would give him a problem. He should have expected this. But then, he did something Scourge didn't predict. Knuckles slyly glanced at Tails, and gave him a nod before turning back to Scourge.

The fox's pupils widened, knowing what he had to do next. He then began to back away slowly from the group, before turning and sprinting inside of his house. Rouge and Shadow looked back in confusion, before looking at each other extremely perplexed. Then, they heard the sound of a hefty engine. Something larger than some normal vehicle. Shadow figured out exactly what they were going to try to do. "Rouge, get the Rose inside of his house. Don't bother calling GUN for back up, it'll be too late by the time they arrive." He began to move towards the two males. "Don't leave the perimeter of the house!" He said loudly enough for her to hear as that same engine noise grew louder.

Scourge smirked to this. He knew what they were trying to do.

Knuckles kept his mouth a flat line. "Last chance." For the first time all day, he kept his voice calm. Completely, deadly, serious. "Tell me where Sonic is right now."

Scourge put his hands behind his back and made a rather unimpressed expression at the red Mobian. He smugly looked down upon him and shrugged. "Dunno."

"You're a liar." He muttered.

He laughed in return. "Obviously."

"Tell me where he is!" He screamed.

"Well," Scourge began as he trailed off. He looked past Knuckles to see the black and red furred hedgehog speed walk their way. Oh boy, here we go. Guess it couldn't be helped. Then, his eyes automatically shot up at the sky once he heard propellers. The great Tornado 2. "You'll have to," Scourge started to back away, his eyes glancing from threat to threat. "..Catch me first." He finally said.

"What?" Knuckles blinked.

He shouldn't have did that.

Because once he did, Scourge had already shot off in a sonic boom away from the area.

* * *

Why did he have to make him stay hidden?

Well, he did say just in case he needed 'back up.' But, he was strong on his own, wasn't he? So what if Shadow was there? He could take him no problem. Then again, maybe he'd have a little problem. But he'd still be able to deal with him by himself. He didn't need someone so worthless. Yeah, that's what he was. Worthless. Complete trash. Garbage...And yet, he loved garbage like him.

He loved him over his own girlfriend. How scandalous.

He couldn't wait until they went back home and-

..He felt his chaos wavelength. He was coming nearby. And someone else as well. Was that Shadow? Wait...Who was Shadow again? Ah, probably another memory Scourge said he didn't need. Ah well. When the time was right, he'd step in.

After all, as his lover, that's what he was supposed to do.

Serve and protect, as loyal as a dog.

All for _love._

* * *

A bright green streak of light shot off into the wilderness of the area. See, the town of Station Square was surrounded by forests with a few other landscapes nearby. Once the hedgehog set off to run, they saw how he was just about as fast as Sonic, perhaps faster. Shadow was right on his tail, but couldn't run past him. Tails was able to pick up more speed to catch up with the two hedgehogs, but he almost had to make his plane go full speed just to keep up. But he wouldn't let that stop him. After all, keeping up with Sonic was how they met, and how they became close. It was his calling. As for Knuckles, he was also someone else who could somewhat keep up with Sonic. So he was right behind Shadow on speed.

His black combat boots trampled through the flourishing terrain of the outskirts of Station Square. Geez, he knew this would happen. Talk about a welcoming party. Ohh but he couldn't wait to see the look on their muzzles when they saw their hero again. Ah he could imagine it now. The eerie feeling of dread written across all their faces, it would be delicious! The area became more engulfed with trees, forcing him to run side to side to dodge them. He went so fast, the streak he left was spiraling downwards into the forest like a top.

Then, he saw a flash of green light beside him, and saw his only formidable nemesis. The Ultimate Life form. He grinned at his arrival. Smart to just chaos control right next to him. As they ran next to each other, they could easily see the difference of their speeds. This Scourge was definitely faster, as much as he hated to admit to himself.

The black hedgehog scoffed at him and prepared an attack in his palm that was now glowing with red light. However, Scourge immediately threw his hand down to seize the experiment's hand, and forced the power that was reaching his fingertips to cancel itself out. The wavelength of this one's chaos energy was way too disruptive and ironically, chaotic. Shadow hissed at the pain of his power, snatching his hand away and twisting his body to make an upwards kick.

He landed a hit, which made Scourge get knocked down. But with so much momentum and speed, it did more than just that. It shot him yards away, forcing him to hit the ground a few times and roll, before catching himself and gripping his fingers into the ground to stop his body. He threw himself to sprint himself towards Shadow's direction once more, but the hedgehog quickly teleported himself onto the branch of a tree. Scourge commended him for his resources.

Then, the sound of cracking rocks-no, the ripping of tree bark resounded throughout the landscape. The green hedgehog turned, and saw before his eyes a large tree that was freshly rooted up from the ground being tossed towards him. As it was still in the air, he dipped his back low, almost all the way to the grass itself to dodge the tree that flew right over him. Suddenly, his body reacted before he did, and made his hands shoot up to grab someone else's. He found himself grabbing Knuckles' namesakes, holding him off from punching him. Huh. He got in front of him pretty fast.

Knuckles snatched his fists out of his grasp and threw punches left and right. Left hook, right hook, uppercut, sucker punch, you name it. But no matter what, Scourge just kept dodging like a pro, having absolutely no trouble. Not even sweating. The echidna growled at his refusal to fight back, until the other answered his wishes. The Anti-Sonic matched his fighting speed along with the other's just to toy with him. This went on for a short amount of time, until Scourge reached one of his hands out to grip the other by the neck. With a grunt, he swung and threw the red male thousands of feet away, making him hit a few objects along his flight until he landed.

Then, he went down to his knees and curled himself into a green ball. He'd go even faster like this. With a spin dash, he tore through everything. Trees, rocks, and even unlucky woodland animals that squealed in fear before scampering to get out the way. He could see a clearing up ahead, so that would be where he stopped. Once he made it, he uncurled himself and skidded his feet to a stop. He blew out a puff of air and looked up to the skies, only to see that same plane right above him.

The vulpine shot missiles. Not just regular missiles, but homing missiles. Smart kid.

Scourge backflipped up into the air right before a missile landed in front of him. He landed on it's nose and sat on top of it, posing like one of his French girls. He waved a hand at Tails, watching behind the window of the pilot's seat, that he was getting more than just peeved off. With a loud war cry, he made a dive for the hedgehog. The nose of the plane hurdling straight towards him. This made Scourge raise his brows in awe. Woah. That kid was _really_ trying to kill him. He had to say, he was pretty impressed by his recklessness.

Scourge quickly hopped off the missile, waiting for Tails to collide with it. However, that wasn't the case. Right before it had exploded, Tails drove himself away from the rocket just in time. Getting only minor damage. Damn, the kid was good! With a swift turn, he flew himself directly into Scourge's direction one last time. The green Moebian, as he was landing, darted himself towards Tails plane. Almost similar to Sonic's homing attack. Tails watched him coming straight towards him, and clenched his eyes shut. He had stopped the plane, and he slowly opened his ocean-flooded orbs back up.

Scourge was standing right on top of his window, grinning at him again. But then, he threw his hand inside of the window of the pilot's seat and shot his hand through his controls. With a demented smile, he ripped out wires and gears from the machine, laughing manically as Tails cried out in fear. The plane was spiraling downwards to crash, and Scourge hopped out just in time.

He landed safely away from the wreckage, however, the kid wasn't so lucky.

While humming a little song, he walked away confidently while lightly swaying his hips to the song he sung in his own shattered mind. Wow, that kid was more fun than he thought he'd be. Much more fun than that stupid redhead.

...Then he felt a familiar presence behind him. He turned around and smiled brightly. "Hey Stripes." He greeted happily. Shadow looked more than angry, he was full on enraged at this point. Not just because of the situation, but the fact that he made Tails, a child, wreck himself in an accident like that. The hell with Sonic getting mad at him over it, no, that just morally wasn't right. And while he was the last person to run down a list of good morales, he knew in his heart that was just pure evil to do. "Oh oh! Check it out!" Scourge hopped up and down with glee, before settling down quickly and putting one hand over his face, with the other arm crossed over his chest. His eyes lowered mysteriously, and his quills blew in the wind. " _I'm Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog._ " He announced in a low voice, almost perfectly mimicking Shadow. It seemed that he didn't have to hypnotize anyone to fake Sonic or Shadow's voice. While it wasn't completely flawless, it was very close. Seems he had a little of both of their voices naturally, to be able to pull it off so well. He uncovered his face and stood proudly at his work. "Pretty good, huh? Huh?"

Shadow wasted no time after that to charge towards him with a full-on punch to the jaw.

"OOowwww!" Scourge whined as he stumbled back a few steps. "Chaos, learn to take a joke, buddy."

"You really think," Shadow growled severely in a greatly threatening tone. "This is a damn game?"

"Mnn. Sorta. Well, probably not. After all, a real good game would have a super cool final boss, right? Well, I guess I don't really measure up to that considering I'm not big and huge, like in those cool action games." He put a lightly tan finger up to his muzzle in wonder. "Hmm, _but that's for later._ After all, like I said, this is just huge foreshadowing." Scourge shook his head with a 'tsk, tsk'. "Ah well. Too bad for you, I'm all you're gonna get for now. _So_ fuckin' hopeless, am I right?"

Alright, that was enough of this pointless dialogue. Shadow asked himself why he even tried to get some kind of retort from him.

So instead of talking, he continued to once again charge towards Scourge, and punch or kick the absolute day lights out of him. He wasn't holding anything back, so unfortunately for the evil Sonic, it was working. He was surprised by this, never really expecting the ultimate life form to actually land more than a few hits on him. In fact, his hits were actually hurting. Huh, go figure. A hover boot landed into his stomach, while a ringed gloved hand fisted it's knuckles into his cheek. And this continued over and over, just in different parts of the body. Then, a flash of green. Shadow was behind him, right above him this time.

He swung his leg down into his head, making Scourge slam into the ground. His glasses flew right off, hundreds of yards away. With a small chuckle, Scourge got right back up and fought back. As they shared punches and kicks, blocks and deflects, Scourge was having the time of his life. Shit. No wonder he was some kind of warped masochist, this shit was fun! And no wonder Blue kept asking about him over and over, who wouldn't want a rival like this?

His thoughts were interrupted by a chaos controlled punch to the back. Scourge was knocked over and shot directly into the soil once more. The green hedgehog groaned and got himself up once again, this time a little sore, and a little tired as well. Fighting scrubs wasn't easy after all. He stood up on slightly trembling feet, and he backed slowly away from the ebony creature of destruction. He spit blood from his mouth, and noticed Shadow was a little scraped up too, just not as bad as he was. Heh, he had the upper hand this time. He gave him a pat on the back for that. After all, this wasn't Blue. Shadow was superior when it came to strength. That's why his attacks actually hurt. But damn, what could he do now?

...Oh. He thought to himself with a smirk. He almost forgot he brought him here.

"Hey Stripes, I meant to ask. You wanna see Blue, right?" He asked in a grunt as Shadow steadily made his way closer to his prey. "You do realize he's actually here." He told with a cocky expression. This made Shadow narrow his eyes.

"Bullshit."

"Ah but it's true!" He exclaimed. "In fact, he's..." His voice became quieter with each syllable. He then, stared right above Shadow, as if something was there. With a growing shade looming over him, the black hedgehog cautiously looked above him. "..Right there."

What Shadow saw next, made his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. Above him, with a fist ready to collide into his face, was indeed Sonic. But...This hedgehog couldn't have been Sonic. Sonic's fur was never this dark blue, never with this revolting aura. Never, with such negative chaos energy. With his eyes so darkly green and lifeless. In fact, one of his eyes were almost completely white. W-Why!? Why did he look like this!?

To Shadow's reaction, Scourge watched in slow motion while laughing his ass off, as Shadow's rival and Mobius' hero, collided his fist with Shadow's face.

* * *

"Tails, get up! Can you hear me?"

Knuckles' highly concerned voice echoed to his large ears, forcing him to wake up from darkness. His entire body was sore, he almost wished he wasn't coming to. He whimpered as he cracked open his eye lids to the world once more, slowly looking around. It smelled like smoke, like a car just crashed into a tree. He glanced down to see scratches and bruises all over his fur. His gloves were even torn up. His head was killing him. Chaos, what did he do?

He slightly turned behind him, and saw a small amount of smoke drifting into the sky. To this, he panicked and sharply turned completely around to face where the source was coming from. He looked in shock at the wreckage of his plane. Darn it, not again. He just fixed it, made modifications, modeled it to perfection-And now it was ruined all over again. He mentally ripped his own fur out of his head. This would take at least over a month to fix.

The entire collision of the crash scrunched up part of the plane, the tail was damaged, the window was literally in pieces...Ughh..

Tails sighed stressfully, drooping his head down in mental exhaustion. This whole day was just crappy.

"You alright?" Knuckles asked again.

Tails put his hand up to his head and lightly rubbed it, feeling a small amount of liquid form from it. He must have developed a gash on his head from the crash, and why he suddenly smelled metallic. He glanced up at Knuckles and saw his body seemed battered up as well, just not as bad as himself. He was relieved to see that he was alright, and doing relatively better than he was. He smiled a little through the pain. "Y-Yeah. Just really sore." He tried standing up, but had much difficulty. Knuckles gripped his hand and gently pulled him up to his feet. He put his hand on his shoulder with his other hand holding one of his arms. He helped him regain his balance, and guided him to move forward and walk. He was tempted to pick up the fox and just carry him.

Tails was grateful for the help, but he was far too worried about what previously happened to thank him. "Where's Anti-Sonic?" He asked quickly. Knuckles growled at the very mention of his name.

"Bastard went deeper into the woods to fight with Shadow. I heard a loud crash happen not too long ago. I hope he's giving him hell."

"Shadow's pretty tough, but Anti-Sonic's stronger. I'm surprised he had the upper hand the first time they fought." The orange fox made a skeptical expression, looking at the grass below him as if he was looking for the answer in the soil. "I don't get it. He's more than capable of beating Shadow or Sonic easily. I'm even more surprised that the fight's not over with."

The guardian blinked at Tails' statement. "H-Hey! Don't count him out yet. Sure he's not someone I'd recommend to help out, but he _is_ on our side for the most part, and someone who can still stand up to that freak. Don't you have any faith?"

"Of course I do!" The preteen exclaimed. "I-It's just, I'm being realistic, not pessimistic. Anti-Sonic-err, Scourge, is much more powerful than you think. He's faster than Sonic and stronger than Shadow thanks to his mutation. Actually, he should be able to take them both on at the same time. The only thing I can think of is that..." Tails' blue eyes widened a little. "He must be in fatigue. Using that weird chaos power to manipulate our minds, it has to be taking a toll on him!"

"You sure about that?" Knuckles grunted as he punched away nearby trees and other plants that were in their way.

"I'm positive. It's the only explanation as to why he can't defeat Shadow. If I'm right, then Shadow really does have a chance to beat him!"

"Well let's hope that you're right, and see to it that green bastard's on the ground groveling by the time we get there."

* * *

 **END - 3**

 **Thank you very much for the reviews everyone. It means the absolute world to me, and they're very important to me. So if you'd keep 'em coming, that'd be great!**


	4. We'll Play Again Soon

**4 - We'll Play Again Soon**

* * *

Shadow found himself shoved into the ground from the force of the punch. The force of the attack knocked him for a loop a little, making him feel dizzy. He never thought an enemy would be able to hit him silly before. Fighting off the small headache that was starting to form in his head, he groaned as he sat up and pushed himself up off of the ground with the palms of his hands. He got in position to fight once again, glaring straight ahead at the person standing beside the giggling green hedgehog menace.

He...honestly couldn't believe his eyes.

Mobius' hero, the savior of it's world's citizens, a person who has saved the same world numerous upon numerous of times...Was now standing beside Mobius' new threat, not as an enemy, but an ally. Engulfed in deadly dark aura, negativity was radiating off of him. His former cobalt, royally blue fur, was now even deeper than before. It wasn't peaceful like the color represented, no. It was no longer a color of harmony, but a color of power, unforgiving spitefulness, and even depression. In fact, it was almost completely black, like his own fur. His once bright lime green eye, was now a dim, dark swampy-like color. And one of them even seemed to be faded away, like his eye was almost completely glowing white. The wavelengths of his chaos energy were so large, he could feel it. His quills were raised upwards, just like his Super form, but it wasn't. It was something worse.

No, this _couldn't_ be faker. It just couldn't.

"Who are you?" Shadow hissed dangerously. He then darted his eyes to Scourge. "Explain."

The emerald furred hedgehog covered his mouth with a 'teehee'. "I'd _love_ to introduce you two!" He walked a little in front of the dark fellow hedgehog and wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer. Like he was his old buddy. He grinned cheek to cheek, pressing him even closer to his body. A little too close for comfort in Shadow's opinion. In fact, was he blushing? He even looked a little shy, looking away with slight bashfulness. But his eyes, they looked so lost. He looked slow, almost. Like his brain wasn't functioning properly. "This, is **Dark Sonic.** Probably the most edgy you'll ever see Blue. Probably even edgier than you, Stripes."

 _That son of a bitch._ Shadow thought, growling at his little insults. "What the hell is this!?" He shouted. "Answer me!"

"Geez, calm down." Scourge frowned. He sighed and pressed his own cheek into the dark hero's muzzle, pouting like a child. "It's just a dark form, that's all. Apparently if my research that was stolen from Baldy-McFat-Ass is correct, Blue turns into this when he's super mad. Rage mixed with chaos energy, and bam! Dark Sonic."

 _I don't understand. Faker had another form other than Super Sonic? I already know about that 'werehog' incident, but he can no longer achieve that form due to complications I wasn't here for. But, if he had this, what other forms does he have? I wonder if Tails knows about this..._ Shadow scoffed and narrowed his eyes. This was starting to become one huge complicated mess. But the better question was, why was Scourge so attached to Sonic like that? Didn't he despise him? At least, that's what he assumed for any enemy that threatened Mobius. Well, now that he thought about it, that seemed a bit close-minded.

The Anti-Sonic put his hand on top of Dark Sonic's head, lightly ruffling it. Almost soothingly. "After a little physical and mental torture, with the help of the person who gave me these powers, I forced Blue to turn like this."

"So basically, you brainwashed him into turning Dark? Thanks to the chaos energy needed to perform that feat, you were able to change him instantly."

"Yup!" Scourge said delightedly with a cute tilt of his head. "Totally. But I gotta say, it was a little hard. He was one stubborn bastard, I'll tell ya that. But, that's to be expected from the Hero of Mobius. The guy who backs down from no one, who doesn't give up his freedom to anyone, _right_?" He smirked directly at Shadow.

"I see." The black and red hedgehog clenched his teeth. "No wonder he looks so braindead." That's what it was. He didn't just brainwash Sonic into turning into this...thing, but he brainwashed him into being infactuated with Scourge as well. That's why he seemed as if he was blushing by him just being close. Now that, was fucking gross. But why the hell would he do that?

 _"I have a crush on Blue too, you know."_

That evil little bastard. That's what this was all about. He didn't want to kill Sonic or get rid of him, he wanted him for himself.

"I see you thinking super hard over there, Stripes. Don't accidentally blow a gasket in that big ol' brain of yours. You're still figuring it all out. You're pretty smart, gotta say." Scourge complimented with a sneer. Ignoring this, Shadow took another good look at Sonic's body. He almost gasped at the sight. There weren't any bruises that resembled a beating. If anything, Scourge probably made Sonic think he physically harmed him by hand. No, instead, he had bruising similar to someone who became victim to electricity. It scarred his body horribly. It was only in once place, but it was an eyesore for the former hero. Right on his legs, but mostly in between his thighs. Scourge probably did that so he couldn't run. Perhaps a cruel ironic joke.

Shadow could tell it was healing, but not quick enough for his tastes.

"Welp," Scourge began. "Now that we've settled that, how's about we finish this?"

Shadow tightened his form, readying his body and preparing it for battle. If he had to fight faker one more time in order knock some damn sense into him, he had no problem with that.

With a shockwave resonating throughout the trees, both evil hedgehogs darted towards Shadow. At high speed and force, they both came fast with flying attacks coming left and right. Shadow definitely could not keep up with both at the same time, so instead of fighting back or even trying to block anything, he made a sonic boom away from them, right into a small path surrounded by trees up ahead that led to a tiny meadow inside. A little unsatisfied with Shadow's move, they ran to follow.

Lucky for Shadow, Scourge was obviously getting tired. He could notice that he was laying a little low behind him, while Dark Sonic was hot on his trail. The navy blue hedgehog stomped his foot into the ground, giving him leverage to jump up high and spike one of his legs down as an axe kick. Shadow thankfully saw what he was planning quickly, and dived away from his foot. Once he landed, it made a large crack into the ground.

He prayed to Maria, and thanked her that he didn't get hit by that. If he had gotten hit, it would have destroyed his spine. No doubt about it, that form was _strong_. Probably as strong as Super Sonic. Meaning, he couldn't fight this battle hand-to-hand. He was beaten by physical strength and speed tenfold. But speed and strength weren't always the shoe-in victories for these kinds of battles.

Little did they know, Shadow had a plan for that.

Right as Sonic landed, he was getting a too close for comfort. His sneakers were moving right behind his hover boots, and he was close enough to lay a good hit. He threw a punch, almost nailing Shadow right in the back. If he hadn't swiftly moved to the side, that would have literally been off with his head. Dark Sonic threw another punch, and another and then another. Shadow was shockingly quick enough to dodge all of them. Something wasn't right. He was almost positive that this form was supposed to be a lot quicker than this. Perhaps under Scourge's control, it wasn't at it's full potential?

However, that didn't mean he wasn't pulling any punches. He realized how much he underestimated Sonic. Either he got stronger by normal means over the years, or he was holding back all this time. But, nevermind that for now. He couldn't keep dodging forever!

Shadow looked back at Sonic and yelled, "Chaos control!"

In a flash of green light, he was gone.

He was now much farther away from them than before, getting better distance for his plan. He was on one of the tree branches, watching cautiously.

"I don't fuckin' think so!" He heard Scourge shout behind him.

In a dark blue flash, both he and Dark Sonic were right in front of him. His ruby eyes shrunk red when he saw their fists fly right into his face. They both uppercut the ultimate lifeform up into the air like a ragdoll. They both had chaos controlled to warp in front of him, and they did it once again to get higher in the air above him. Dark Sonic swung his leg into Shadow's head. He pummeled down, with Scourge hurrying below him to swing his leg into him as well. Shadow shot off like a bullet from the impact into a tree, breaking through it. Sonic appeared below him again and elbowed him right in the abdomen that made his body fly upwards.

They were basically playing kick ball with him. Elbows included.

Scourge landed swiftly on a tree branch, and held his arms out for Shadow to land into his arms from Dark Sonic's hit. He caught him and looked up at the dark hedgehog who floated above them with a grin. Huh. He forgot he could fly. Shadow was bleeding from his mouth and face, and he was squeezing his eyes shut from the pain. "Heya Blue! Wanna play pinball?" With that, he threw Shadow into the air again, and began to curl himself up in a ball.

The spiky green ball rammed into Shadow's back the next minute, shooting him towards Sonic once again. He curled up and did the same as his partner, a dark blue, almost black ball bouncing right against Shadow. They both came towards him like hurdling spiked dodge balls, beating him in every single direction. Left, right, up, down, diagonally, all directions possible. They came down upon him like hail on a metal roof, marbles slamming against a hardwood floor. They didn't stop or let up. They kept on going, battering Shadow's body in the air for minutes.

"Ding ding!" Scourge laughed as he uncurled himself and landed hard onto the forest floor. Dark Sonic landed beside him, watching as Shadow helplessly fell down onto his back in front of them. "Well that was fun."

"..." Dark Sonic didn't reply, he only continued to stare at the ebony hedgehog's broken body. He felt a hand cup his behind, and pull his body closer. He made a sharp gasp and looked somewhere else, shuddering from the touch.

"Hey," Scourge whispered provocatively. "No one's around, and I'm pretty sure Stripes ain't gettin' up for a while..." He rubbed his sharp fingers against his bottom more, squeezing his furred flesh. "Wanna..You know." He lowered his eyes suggestively towards the other, making him tremble against him.

"M-Mnn.." He tried to mutter something, but it didn't come out right.

"What's that? Gonna have to speak up, Blue."

"..I-I-" He stopped in mid sentence and flinched. He looked at Shadow again, to see him chuckling darkly. He was struggling to pick himself up, but that didn't stop him. Scourge groaned in exasperation. He thought Shadow would at _least_ give them a few minutes before he got up again.

"Hahaha." Shadow shook his head with a foolish smile on his face. Look at him, in such a pathetic state. Oh he'd have one hell of a story to tell GUN. He managed to get up on one knee, and held out one hand. He looked directly in Scourge's eyes and muttered one little thing.

"Chaos Fibers."

"Chaos wha-? _Oh shit!_ " Scourge hollered as he felt his entire body get yanked down harshly with his arms tightly pinned behind his back. He couldn't move anything, not a muscle. He couldn't even squirm. It was like his entire body was paralyzed. He looked over his own frame, and saw that once again, Shadow had him wrapped in wires that were made out of chaos. But, these were thicker. Stronger. It had him pinned down, and it felt like a hundred bricks were stacked on top of him. He couldn't use his brainwashing ability on Shadow, he was way too tired to use that right now. He could only hope that Dark Sonic would snap through it-

"Chaos Drain!" Shadow cried, closing his fist tightly.

"Damn!" Scourge closed one of his eyes shut tightly, feeling the pain travel throughout his body. His power was being drained, and it felt like hell. If he wasn't exhausted before, he sure as hell was now. But then, his focus went less on himself, and more on Sonic once he heard him scream in pain. He tried looking up, and saw that Sonic was trying to fight the damn things off, but it was only making it worse for him. He tried moving towards Shadow, but he just fell to his knees and tossed his head back in great agony. He then made a long, drawn out gasp, and fell face-forward.

He was writhing in the ground, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. His mouth was agape, like he was trying to scream more, but nothing would come out except for strangled noises. His legs tried kicking, trying to get away from it all. His body trembled violently, trying so desperately to get free. Dark blue chaos power roared from his body. It shook the ground below them, showing just how frustrated and angry he was for being captured. Shadow never meant for it to cause him this much pain. He watched, almost horror-stricken at what he was doing to him. It was like he was having some kind of over-dose. Was he killing him-

"Quit it!" Scourge yelled. "Get those fuckin' things off of him! You're killing him!" For the first time, the bastard was actually taking things seriously. He looked legitimately worried. Dark Sonic shoved his forehead into the ground, spit drooling from his mouth, puking onto the grass.

Shadow released his hold on the wires, and they dispersed from Scourge and the former hero. "Your damn brainwashing ability," He spit blood from his mouth as he held a hand up to his side that was currently killing him. "With that, his new form and my chaos fibers, it was way too much on his body. That's the only thing I can think of." He concluded as he looked down at Sonic's figure. Once he let him go from his binds, he shivered on the grass, not moving from his position. He was gripping the strands of grass into his fingers.

Scourge sighed. He had a feeling something would go wrong, just not like _this._ Shit, this really wasn't good. No doubt they'd make him revert somehow. He had to get outta here. He had a warp ring on him, so it wouldn't be a problem-

"Sonic!" A familiar voice called. Tails ran as quick as he could towards the three, and ended up stumbling down from his injuries. Behind him, Knuckles came just in time to help him up and walk him carefully. "S-Sonic...!" He called again in a gasp when he saw his older brother on the forest floor. He was no longer moving, just panting heavily. "O-Oh no..!" Tails shook his head slowly. "Not again..!" He breathed unsteadily.

Shadow's ear flinched at this. _Again?_ "Tails, both of you, leave this instant!"

"Oh boy." Scourge rolled his eyes. Here we go...

The red echidna made several sounds of pure shock. "The hell-!? What the hell happened to you? Both of you!" He gently let Tails down and rushed to Sonic's side. He knelt down on one knee and held out his hand for him to grab. "Get up!"

"No!" Tails cried. "Knuckles! Don't-"

"-Stay away from him!" Shadow warned.

Knuckles' purple amethyst eyes went wide as Dark Sonic reached up not for his gloved hand, but his face. His palm seized his muzzle tightly, glowing a dark color. Mobius' former hero bellowed with a strong and inflamed cry, a monster howling in utter rage. His power would totally wreck his cranium into oblivion. His aura alone was making trees fly away from the ground. Tails held onto the ground below him securely as he watched in sorrow, while Scourge just smirked to himself. Shadow cursed to himself and sprinted towards the hedgehog. He wrapped his arms around Dark Sonic from behind and tightly held on, pulling him away from Knuckles. Thankfully Dark Sonic was way too tired to fight back, so he just snarled and let Shadow take him away. "No! NO! Get off of me!" He growled. "Get.. _Off!_ "

"Quit this damn nonsense right now, faker!" Shadow harshly ordered.

"No! You don't understand! If I-" He tried to get his hands free. "If I don't do what he says, I'll-!"

"And since when do _you_ give a damn about what _anyone_ says!?" Shadow angrily shouted back.

"..!" Dark Sonic's struggles ceased automatically once he said that. The absurd power that resonated from Sonic's body decreased alarmingly.

Knuckles was grabbed and pulled away by Tails protectively. He quickly realized what was going on. Scourge must have been controlling Sonic. He didn't know why he was in this scary form, but regardless of anything, they needed to snap him out of this. Scourge meanwhile was watching it all, simpering with his arms crossed over his scarred chest. As Tails kept his hold on the guardian, the elder felt that the younger was acting really timid. His body was shaking. He looked down at Tails and asked the frightened vulpine what was wrong. "Tails, what's up with you?"

Tails wouldn't respond. He just continued to stare at Dark Sonic, extremely worried.

Knuckles squinted his eyes. "You know why Sonic looks like that, don't you?"

At that, Tails gulped. Shadow noticed the fox's behavior, all while still trying to keep his hold on the other hedgehog. With a grunt, he asked for the fox to tell what he knew. "If know something Tails, say it!"

"Yeah," Scourge cracked a grin. "If you know somethin', say it, _kid._ " He threatened. It was a pressuring threat. He wanted Tails to say it.

The orange fox looked down with clenched teeth, almost not wanting to tell the story.

* * *

 _The round-bellied hedgehog ruffled the top of the kitsune's head softly, smiling gently. It was about a year after he found the little guy following him in West Side Island. He seemed so fragile and nervous about everything. He lacked confidence and his self-esteem was literally nonexistence. He was glad that he met him. If he didn't, the little guy would have either starved, or continued to have been tortured by those bullies. They thought him being super smart with two tails was weird._

 _Tch, weird?_

 _Two tails was friggin' awesome in his opinion. He could fly with them! And super smart too? That wasn't lame at all! At first he didn't want Tails around him considering he was a little annoying at first, being kinda clingy. But once he realized how hard his life was and that he just wanted someone to look up to, he had no choice. Besides, he was the only person he ever met that could keep up with his speed. This kid was going places, and he'd help him get there one step at a time._

 _Today, they had just finished building their house on the island. He put his plane beside it. Tails tugged on Sonic's glove, and suggested they should look for the chaos emeralds. Those shiny gems that seemed really powerful. Sonic agreed by nodding his head with a smile. He didn't talk much, but it was fine with him._

 _After hours and hours of searching, the two managed to find all of them. They had previously stashed the emeralds away on the island separately. They found where they hid them and took them back to their new house. Tails was so happy that he found three of them. Sonic was gonna be so proud of him. He ran his little legs over to their meeting point and put down the emeralds on the ground. He felt something wet hit his little nose, making him look up. It was cloudy. It was going to rain soon. Sonic would definitely make it before then, though-_

 _What in the world...? What was that egg-like flying machine doing here? Why was it flying over their house? Tails blinked slowly, scratching his head._

 _Wait, there was someone inside it. Why were they smiling at him like that?_

* * *

 _The small blue hedgehog stepped in front of their house, and stopped all of his movements. He dropped the remaining chaos emeralds on the ground, and clenched his fists tightly. Tails...he was on the ground passed out. Blood was everywhere. There were scars tattered all over his body. He wasn't moving. It didn't sound like he was breathing. Not a twitch, not a groan, nothing._

 _It was like, he was_ dead.

 _Sonic dropped to his knees, gripping his fingers into the sand. Why? Just, why? What did he do to deserve this? It was just a little kid, even younger than he was! Why did he deserve to die?_

 _He heard the familiar sound of some kind of flying machine. Not an airplane but-_

 _"There you are." The doctor grinned._

 _Of course. He did it._

 _He did it all._

 _He hurt Tails._

 _That piece of scum._

 _Useless waste of human flesh!_ Human garbage!

 _Before the little Mobian knew it, he couldn't control himself. He just found himself screaming in anger and launching towards the human in the sky flying that weird egg-shaped aircraft. He just started swinging and beat him. And beat him._ And beat him. _Blood was caked on his fists, his flying machine was malfunctioning. Then, he heard Tails' voice._

 _"S-Sonic..! Stop it!" He weakly called._

 _But he ignored it. Soon, he was destroying everything in his way. Their new house, nearby flora-_

 _"Stop!"_

 _There it was again._

 _Then he heard the snapping of a bone._

 _"O-Ow..! Wait, s-stop it! Please! You're hurting me..!"_

 _That horrified pained tone made him stop everything. He got away from the human who was now on the ground, and rushed to Tails. Tails was crying, tears all over his face, running down his fuzzy cheeks. Did he make him cry?_

 _He scanned over his body, and realized one of those wounds wasn't there before. His arm was twisted in a weird way, now broken. Did...Did he do that?_

 _"Y-You're going to...kill him. S-Stop it!"_

 _Tails grabbed the hedgehog's hand and pulled him closer with his good arm. He managed to get it wrapped around Sonic, hugging him tightly. He never thought he would see Sonic look like this, and hurt him. Such a dark color, so evil and mean, hurting another person so badly. But he didn't care, it didn't matter how scared he was of him right now. He just wanted his buddy back. "P-Please snap out of it."_

 _The normal bright blue color of his fur returned, and his pretty green eyes came back. He looked so ashamed of himself for scaring and hurting the little one like this. Once he became normal, Tails smiled brightly. He was so happy his buddy came back to him. "P-Promise me. Promise me you won't do something like that again. Okay?" He asked softly. Sonic, with watery eyes, nodded quickly._

 _He never wanted his little brother to see him like that ever again._

 _He would never hurt him again._

* * *

" _Ow_ the edge.." The green hedgehog mumbled under his breath.

Knuckles darted his eyes to Scourge. "..Seriously, _shut_ the hell up!"

"I made him promise me to never turn into this, and never hurt anyone like that ever again." Tails sniffed. "I see that promise was broken, obviously." He roughly wiped his nose. The blood, Eggman screaming his head off for someone to get Sonic off of him, Sonic breaking his arm. He remembered it all, and he thought he'd never have to remember it again. Why was this day just so screwed up!? "Right Sonic?" He said louder with furrowed brows.

Dark Sonic blinked a few times, finding himself becoming completely still. He watched the few tears from Tails' muzzle fall down onto the grass below them. He looked so disappointed, so sad and even angry with him. Never once did he see Tails look so distraught and upset at him. Yes, as best friends and practically siblings who previously used to live together every single day when they were younger, they had arguments from time to time. They were angry at each other sometimes. There were times where Sonic had to put his foot down as an adult which would hurt Tails' feelings, of course from being the child in the relationship. One time, they even fought, with Sonic losing because he wanted to hold himself back and refrained himself from hurting Tails and breaking their promise. From time to time, they did have problems. But they never lingered. They always made up soon after.

Never once, did Tails ever look like this because of Sonic. Never.

"You promised me! You said you'd never turn into...into this _thing!_ You promised!" He yelled.

Dark Sonic's eyes twitched. What he was saying to him, why did it seem familiar? Were these the people Scourge wiped from his mind, that he labeled as unimportant? So why..

His eyes were now red vortexes, swirling like a hypnotic disc.

Shadow flinched at this. Why the hell were his eyes like that?

"Snap out of it, Sonic! Please!" Tails cried.

 _"P-Please snap out of it!"_

" _Please_ , Sonic!"

" _Aahh!_ " Dark Sonic put one of his free hands to his head, gripping it tightly. He had the worst headache imaginable. It hurt like hell, he could barely react by screaming. Something wasn't right, something wasn't working. This pain was too much, he wanted it to go away.

"Ah geez." Scourge interrupted the emotional moment and yawned. He held up his hand and snapped his fingers. Once he did that, Dark Sonic made a huge pained gasped and fell limp in Shadow's arms. His fur quickly turned from navy blue, to regular cobalt. His dark green, almost white eyes faded back into their normal bright lime green. He turned back to normal right before their eyes in just a flash. The now royal blue hedgehog's head fell against Shadow's blinding white chest fur.

Tails fell down again from trying to run over to his big brother. He scrambled to get back up and quickly went to his side. He watched in amazement and awe once he realized he had his buddy back. He was back to normal. He was so happy and relieved, his eyes grew even glossier. He sniffed, and smiled brightly. Knuckles put a hand on his shoulder, looking down on him with a small smile of his own. Shadow saw how elated and relieved the kitsune became when he realized Sonic was okay. He didn't realize how much they cared for each other. It reminded him of himself and Maria, just a little. He looked down at Sonic, who had slowly closed his eyes not too long ago. He was panting very heavily, and sweating too. Gross.

Shadow struggled to pick him up, thinking that it was best to carry him instead of having him lay slumped against him like some doormat. He winced at his wounds, his injuries screaming at him. He was only regenerating now, and it was going pretty slow. Knuckles saw him having difficulty, so he asked if he needed help. "Uh, you want me to carry him?"

"I got it." Shadow said almost possessively, managing to sweep Sonic off of his feet, literally, and holding him up bridal style.

"We gotta get him home." Tails said worriedly. Out of them all, including Scourge, Sonic had it the worst in this ordeal. Chaos knows what he did to him while he was under his capture. "The only problem now is," He trailed off, turning to the green hedgehog who stood about a yard away. Knuckles held up his fists and moved forward towards him.

"I can still fight. I can take him." Knuckles smirked.

"Alright ginger-face, let's not get ahead of yourself, kay?." Scourge just rolled his eyes while picking at his ear.

"You lost, anyway."

Scourge raised a brow at this. "Lost?"

"You lost Sonic, someone you were trying to use as a weapon. Well looks like it didn't work." His smirked only widened when he saw Scourge hold a hand up to his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. His frustration made his statement true. He was a fool for thinking he could control their friend like some kind of mind-slave.

The green hedgehog sighed. "You're so-" Then he burst out laughing, holding his stomach tightly from how hard he was cackling. "Unbelievably wrooong!" This reaction made Knuckles scowl. Scourge sighed blissfully, wiping away a tear. "Okay redhead, pay attention." He advised nicely. "I let Blue go from my control. Kinda why I snapped my fingers a second ago. I never meant for Blue to get hurt so much during this. I underestimated Stripes. Oh yeah, and the power of 'looove', or whatever bullshit the kid pulled over there."

"What, you planned this too!?" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Kinda!" Scourge cupped the sides of his muzzle kindly. "Though, didn't expect to get this tired. Things didn't go _exactly_ as planned, but regardless, I did see this all coming. I planned on returning Blue back to you, but I also didn't plan for him to be reverted back to his normal self so quickly." Scourge turned around, his back facing the four males as he began stepping away. "After all, I don't officially make Blue mine until I've taken control of everything. It's just like I said before," He eerily reminded them once more, turning to them with his creepy crystal clear blue eyes. "This is all. Just. Foreshadowing." He took his glasses from out of his quills and placed them on top of his eyes. When did he get those back? He pushed them up in a rather nerdy way, and made his voice a little lower. More, seductive. Like some kind of sultry librarian or teacher. "Now class, can anyone tell me where you think I'm headed off to? Whoever answers correctly gets five extra participation points, and perhaps a little extra credit." He winked.

"What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean!?" Knuckles grumbled.

"HA!" Scourge laughed again, pulling his glasses from his face and back on his head where they belonged. "Shit, fuckin' with you guys is so fuckin' priceless! Ha!" He walked away from them, pulling out something small. Something that looked like a ring that Sonic would grab while on his adventures. But, different. In a literal flash of bright light, the hedgehog was gone from their sight.

"With a weird question like that, he was probably daring us to follow him. But, a warp ring?" Tails whispered. "How did he get one so small?"

"Piece of trash." Knuckles mumbled under his breath. "Let's go, we're getting out of here."

As Shadow stared down at the lifeless hedgehog that laid in his arms, he knew he'd have all the answers to their questions. They just had to be patient.

* * *

"I'll get a damp cloth." Rouge volunteered as she left the speedster's room. The guest room was claimed as Sonic's room whenever he would visit. It had blue walls, hardwood floor, with basic necessary furniture inside of it. Such as a dresser and a closet. Sonic didn't really personalize it that much. Currently, Sonic was laying in bed, biting his lip tightly as sweat rolled down his forehead. He felt very hot, and he was having a terrible fever. Shadow was leaning against the wall of his room with his arms crossed. He watched him curiously, wondering what hell he had to go through before making it back here. It was already almost evening, and everyone was having a rough day.

Amy was asleep on the couch after passing out from her horrible 'fake' headache Scourge gave her. Knuckles didn't linger, and went to go right back home to his M.E., worried Scourge might be after it. He wasn't as injured as they thought, and said he'd be able to go back home no problem. That the master emerald would end up healing him anyway. He said he'd come back as soon as he could to make sure things were okay.

Rouge ended up having to take care of Shadow, Tails and Sonic. She wasn't an expert doctor, but with her time in GUN, she knew how to handle simple wounds. Shadow had some knowledge as well, so once she finished up with him, he helped her take care of the others. Shadow carried Sonic all the way upstairs to his room. He actually carried him all the way back to Tails' house, even with injuries. It kind of baffled everyone as to why he would go through the trouble, especially being so beat up.

Now, Shadow was in the hero's room, watching over him as he slept. When he carried him earlier, he felt his chaos energy deplete to a very dangerous level. That was his fault. He hated to admit it, but if Scourge hadn't stopped him, he could have really messed him up. Perhaps even put him in a coma, or worse, death. The consequences of Sonic's dark form, with Scourge's brainwashing and Shadow's Chaos Drain, forced Sonic to pass out into a deep sleep. Knowing him, it wouldn't take too long for him to wake up. But he definitely would be out for a couple of days. Even if he miraculously woke up, he would probably be too tired to stay up.

As Shadow looked over him, he thought about what his anti-self said to him.

...He had a crush on him.

Well, he wasn't completely wrong.

Over the years, Sonic warmed up to the ultimate life form. At first, they were strictly bitter rivals, only working together when necessary. But after the Eclipse Canon fiasco on top of the whole Black Doom madness, Sonic started to hang around Shadow more. He always seemed to intend to make Shadow more adapted to Mobius. Make him act more normal around citizens, try to be more civil. He wasn't trying to turn him into a hero as well, because everyone knew that could never happen. But he did want to make him more of a friend than an enemy, and at the very least, an honorable ally.

Reluctantly, it was actually starting to work.

Shadow hated Sonic's company at first. He hated his very presence, because he found him nothing but annoying. He wanted him to stay out of his semi-immortal life and mind his own business. Shadow was someone of extreme isolation and loneliness. And it's been that way for years, so why break that chain now with someone he couldn't even tolerate? Rouge was tolerable, and became more of a reliable friend as time went by. Hesitantly by following Maria's words, he gave the 'civil' life a chance. He figured he'd be a little more fair, and that if it didn't work out after he tried it, he'd resort back to his old ways. Well, Shadow and Sonic got to know each other better. Outside of their friends' knowledge, they spent more time together. Just as normal friends, of course.

They raced, or Sonic would show Shadow some beautiful areas on Mobius. Shadow would _tentatively_ , using that word strongly, tell pieces of his past that he could vividly remember. He did so, so that Sonic could realize why he didn't want to get too close to anyone. Up until now, they became closer than they expected to be. They became good friends, but Shadow started to feel something else.

He started to see Maria in him. As Sonic matured more into an adult year after year, he ironically kept seeing her innocence in his eyes. Her pure good nature, it was filled to the brim inside of his heart.

The experimental bracelet he kept of her that stayed stashed in his quills, he never let it go. If it still worked, maybe it would-

"Mnngh.." Sonic made a rather troubled face as he turned over in Shadow's direction. The sheets were loosely covering his body at this point, barely covering his lower body as his tail poked out from under it. Shadow had to take off his gloves and shoes, so he could at least be a little more comfortable while passed out. His blue legs were spread apart from each other by a short amount of space. As he shifted around, the sheets that covered him slipped off more. As his face pressed more against the soft pillow under his head, he made some faces. Some seemed pleasant, while some seemed pained. Shadow only assumed he could be having nightmares about that green snot Scourge.

Then he noticed how profusely he was sweating. His forehead was as red as that echidna. He was sweating so much, it almost seemed like he came in from a rainstorm. Once he woke up, he had to get washed immediately. Then, Shadow started to stare longer than he should have. The sweat on his body dripped down his torso, and in between his legs. His lips lightly opened, making a tiny yawn. He then stretched and put one arm behind his head, with one of his athletic legs bent upwards at the knee while the other laid straight down. What a weird position to get in while asleep. But, he looked so-

"God damn it," Shadow face palmed. Why the hell was he thinking about him like that now?

"A-Ahaah.." Soinc groaned. And not in a sleepy way, but a miserable way. Like someone was doing something bad to him. Probably his dreams like he initially thought. After all, Sonic wasn't one to make noises like that. Shadow stepped over to the bed and placed his hand on his forehead. And once he did, he snatched it right away. His head was on _fire_. Where the hell was Rouge with that cloth?

Shadow leaned a little closer to the hedgehog's face, and pressed his hand on his cheek instead. Even his face was flustered red. He looked pitiful in such a state. Then he put one of his fingers on his bottom lip, that was then quickly caught by the hero's tongue. Shadow's eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he felt Sonic put the cavern of his mouth on his finger. The fuck!? Was he dreaming about that weird fatty food he liked so much? What was it called...Chilidogs?! Chaos, he was starting to suck against his gloved finger. His tongue rolled over it, and lapped against it with his breath hotly spreading over it. Alright, enough was enough. Shadow put his hand over Sonic's face and yanked his finger from his mouth with a grunt.

"Nmm," Sonic steadily opened his eye lids, and stretched again. He then shivered and wrapped his arms around himself immediately. Everything hurt so much. With squinted eyes, he looked up and saw Shadow looking down at him with a rather unsure expression. "S-Shadow?" He blinked slowly. He tried to sit up but cried out in pain. He laid back down and tightly held onto himself. No, getting up was not an option right now.

"Stay down, faker." Shadow took the sheets and carelessly threw them back over Sonic. "You're in excruciating pain, I'm sure. Your chaos energy levels are almost zero. You almost died."

"T-Thanks." Sonic made a weak smile, grateful for Shadow covering him back up. Then, a thought hit him, and his smile was gone. "Is everyone okay?" He asked anxiously.

"Everyone's fine. Though, Tails' plane is wrecked. I believe he said he'd retrieve it soon." The ebony hedgehog walked back to the wall and stood against it to lean back. He closed his eyes and sighed. "You _do_ remember everything, yes?"

"Yeah..." He said disappointingly. "Is Rouge here too?" Sonic asked softly as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Yes. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be standing here right now."

"Heheh." Sonic smiled again, and bigger this time. "You guys swear you don't care that much, then come runnin' to help us when we're down."

"Whatever." Shadow rolled his eyes.

"It's, really sweet, you know?"

To this, Shadow glanced back at Sonic, who looked relatively happy. It confused Shadow. "What is?"

"It's really nice to see you two come so far, and become really good people." He made a small chuckle. "You both say it's just so GUN won't drill into your asses when you go back to work for not helping out Mobius' hero, but I think it's a little more complicated than that." He turned to Shadow. "Am I right?"

So that's what it was. Geez, why did he always have such high morals? He had such strong faith in everyone he ever met. It was almost disgusting. So kind-hearted that it was making Shadow a little sick. Sometimes Sonic was too nice for his own good. "Hmph." Shadow closed his eyes again. "You wish." He crossed his arms. "And since when do _you_ use such foul language?" He teased with a small smirk.

"Oh please. Ass isn't even that bad." Sonic laughed a bit. "No offense to Tails, but if it wasn't for him growing up with me, I'd be cursing like a sailor at this age. Especially with hangin' around Knux. You don't hear me say much 'cause I try not to for him." The blue hedgehog yawned with his eyes slightly watering. "Besides, people can't see their hero spouting out nonsense like some drunk. And I don't want him to see his big bro act like a juvenile."

The ultimate life form made a curious expression. "Interesting. I'd love to hear you curse someone out. Just once."

"You tryin' to turn me into some kind of delinquent?"

Shadow snorted. "My apologies, I forgot the hero needs to keep his image."

"And set an example for the little one, thank you very much."

"Pft." Shadow stood up from the wall and went in the direction of the door to the bedroom. "Once again, my most humble apologies for assuming otherwise, faker."

"Hey, wait." Sonic made struggling noises as he tried to sit up. Hearing him having trouble, Shadow turned around sharply and went to the bed. He grabbed hold of his shoulders to keep him still, and tried to push him back down into bed.

"Damn it, what part of stay in bed do you not understand, faker?"

"S-Sorry, sorry!" Sonic grinned sheepishly, putting his ungloved hands on top of Shadow's. He made a rather sad smile and looked downwards. "I just wanted to apologize. I mean, I wanted to say sorry to everyone, but since you're already here, might as well start with you."

"Sorry for what?" He blinked.

"For leaving out of no where so suddenly without saying anything. I only told Tails. I just needed to do something important on my own. Then Scourge showed up and..." Sonic frowned in despair and his hands lightly trembled. "He made me act like a fool. I can't believe I let that asshole control me like that. But I had no choice, I..." He swallowed hard and looked away, ashamed.

Scourge must have put Sonic in a difficult situation. Probably gave a threat that he couldn't ignore. And that's why he was acting this way, he felt like he was some kind of failure for giving in. He looked like he really didn't want to get into it right now. "If you don't wish to discuss, then don't. I accept your apology." Shadow began gently, not wanting to push the subject any further. "So stop finding excuses to sit up, and lay the hell down in this damn bed." He growled, shoving Sonic down on the mattress.

"Oof!" Sonic looked a little surprised by the sudden push, but once he saw Shadow's sincerest sympathetic expression, his smile returned. "If you wanted to roughhouse, you could have gave me a heads up first."

"Stay in that damn bed, and I mean it." Shadow scolded as he turned away. "And you're very sweaty."

"Sayin' I smell, huh?" The hero pouted.

"Actually no. I suppose enough bacteria didn't settle in to create an odor yet. Doesn't change the fact that you're still wet. I'm washing my hands.." The dark furred hedgehog stepped away from the bed in the direction to the door again. "If I find that you left this room, I _will_ find you. Your sibling will give you hell to pay. And that pink one will as well."

"Ehhh.." Sonic looked somewhere else nervously. He wasn't wrong, not at all. "Well, thanks for helping me so much. I owe you." He said gratefully.

"I'll hold you on that." Shadow mumbled. "Go back to sleep faker."

"Kay." Sonic turned over on his side and exhaled peacefully. "'Night."

"Goodnight," Shadow turned the knob to the door and stepped out, closing the door behind him. "Sonic." He whispered with a small smile slowly growing on his muzzle.

" _Oh_ my." Rouge suddenly said as she stood in front of him. He flinched at her appearance, wondering how long she was standing there. She just flagged it off with a sneer and went to open the door. "I didn't hear or see a thing, honey~" She taunted as she walked in Sonic's bedroom.

His grumpy expression returned to his normally stoic face.

He sometimes hated that woman. He really did.

* * *

 **END - 4**


	5. The Power Of Malice

**5 - The Power of Malice**

* * *

"What did you hear? What did you see?" Shadow ordered. Rouge just fluttered her eyes in a different direction and laughed under her breath. She was currently fixing the make up on her face in Tails' bathroom, looking in the mirror and painting eye shadow on her eye lids. She was lightly bent over the sink as she was examining herself. As she was putting on her face, Shadow was in the door way, leaned against it and glaring holes into the back of her ivory head.

"You're going to keep asking me until I tell, so I might as well just tell you now." She put down her brush and then lifted a stick of mascara in her hand up to her lashes. Shadow cringed at the sight. That looked so painful. "I came back in only a few minutes. I saw how you were looking at Big Blue. And I have to say, he was in a pretty submissive position. Looking all flushed and sweaty and _vulnerable_."

"The hell are you trying to say?" Shadow harshly questioned as he stepped closer. This didn't falter her movements though. She continued placing on her make up.

"Then, I saw him put your finger in his mouth and _oooh_...Seemed like a nice Friday night was about to begin."

"As if."

"Cut it out sweetie, you know bullshit goes but so far with me." She put down the stick of mascara and held up a small black pencil of eye liner. She gently placed her hand on her cheek and pressed it down to get a better spread view of her eye. "I know you got a thing for him. I always knew. The second you started to warm up with him, I saw it in your eyes. And a woman's intuition is never wrong."

Shadow didn't respond. He only looked away stubbornly with a conflicted expression.

"I don't give a damn if you don't want to admit it to me. I think you're just realizing it yourself that you like him. But once you're sure of it, I want you to be honest." She advised wisely as she pursed her lips in her reflection. "That's how misunderstandings happen, because people don't want to confess and just be frank. Then people get their feelings hurt, and it turns into some bad TV drama." She put down the eye liner that she drew sharply on her lids, then picked up her lip gloss. "I've had my fair shares of heartbreaks. I know how this works. So if you want something, get it. The worst he'll do is reject you, it won't kill you to try. When the time is right, of course."

The black hedgehog continued to stare at her, no longer glaring, but attentively listening.

She smacked her lips a few times before gently rubbing the pad of her finger on her bottom and top lips. "You two had a nice conversation. It was pretty sweet." She smirked. She turned and looked at Shadow's face to see he if he was still listening. "And," She hesitated in her words. Not normal for her usual sharp tongue. "If, what we did, is making you have second thoughts, don't let it. Forget about it, hear me?" She said sternly. "I don't want that to effect you."

"It doesn't." He suddenly retorted. "I never even thought about it until you brought it up. That's behind me. Both of us."

"Good." She sighed.

Shadow continued not to look at her. "If anything, it made me learn a few things." He slyly complimented. She smiled at that with a small blush.

"How sweet. Well I'm glad." She stepped in front of him and put her hand on his shoulder. She made a small squeeze and leaned up to give him a small kiss on the cheek. "I'll keep this only between us. If, and I mean _if_ you two do become a thing, you treat him good. Big Blue's a good boy, and he deserves to be treated right."

"You say it like he's your son or something. Since when do you care so much?" Shadow questioned in a matter-of-fact way.

"Well," She pressed her lips closed for a second to think about how she was going to word her next sentence. "Before I met you, I worked for GUN, right? Well, GUN had their eyes pointed on Sonic even then. So, I had to dig up some dirt on him. I don't know everything about him, but I did find a few things that were juicy."

"Like?" He raised a brow.

Rouge took her hand off his shoulder, and turned to walk away from him back to the mirror to finish up. "I'm not gonna say it out right, since that's his business. Let's just say he's had incidents in dating. A lot of times, it didn't work out so well for him. Poor thing. I can relate to some of his past, so I guess I pity him."

"I see." Shadow glanced away from her, the blue hedgehog popping up in his mind. So he's had experience. And from what it sounds like, not good experiences. Can't say he was surprised. He was the hero, of course everyone and their mother wanted to go out with the famous Sonic the Hedgehog. But it seems like it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. At least not for him. "Thanks." He mumbled before turning around and walking out of the room.

She said nothing back as she continued to smile to herself. Shadow changed so much. And she did, too. She was, kinda happy with that.

* * *

Blue eyelids clenched together, as his teeth locked onto each other with a large grip. He tossed and turned in his once again messy bed. The sheets were everywhere. The wet cloth Rouge nicely put on him was on the floor, dry as a bone. He was sweating even more than before, and he felt like his head was going to implode in on itself. His heart raced faster than his almighty speed, if that were even possible. He was panting so fast, it seemed like a terrible case of hyperventilation.

He held onto his chest with his peach hands, grabbing at his torso, like he was trying to grasp his own beating heart. His legs wildly twitched, like he was trying to get away from something. His body did violent jerks every now and then, making him almost toss himself off the bed. He was gasping, and yet no one could hear him. He couldn't scream, he couldn't call for help. Sonic was ready to just end it all if this pain wouldn't stop.

Yet, this was all just a dream. Why did it seem so real?

* * *

 _He felt it all in his veins. His entire body vibrated with power. But, it didn't feel like raw strength, it felt like something otherworldly. A divine entity passing it's blood into his system. It felt like a sacred force that was currently coursing through his veins. He was never a religious person, but this power truly made him feel like there really was a deity up there, watching Mobius from afar with nothing but good intentions. It made him want to believe._

 _As he was looking into his white gloved hands, he heard a loud footstep stomp into the sand behind him. Who else was on this island? No one knew about it except him. They definitely wouldn't know about the sacred shrine either. And whoever it was wanted him to know they were here with that loud entrance. Sonic slowly lifted his head up from his hands and turned to the direction of the new comer._

 _His eyes dilated dramatically. He looked up and down frantically, almost immediately recognizing the person. And he regretted laying his eyes on him._

 _The all-too familiar green hedgehog held up his hand and wave tauntingly with a small smile. "Hey." He whispered creepily._

 _No. No no no no! Why was he here!?_ How _was he here!? How could he have-Damn it, if he knew where the shrine was, that meant he already achieved his power too in the other world. It wasn't hard to locate if you knew where the opposite shrine was on Moebius. Shit, he didn't know what to do._

 _"Why...are you here?" Sonic said with a low, grave tone._

 _"Why?" Scourge repeated. "Well, a couple of small little itty bitty reasons. Nothing too big, Blue." His anti-self falsely assured. He walked circles around him, just to toy with him even further. Sonic's guard was up, his body was very tense. He knew he couldn't win a fight against him, but if it came down to it, he'd fight until he could no longer move his body. Until he drew his last breath if necessary. "You know, revenge. That's one reason." Scourge stopped in front of him and put on his thinking face. "But ya know, there was something else I wanted, cause I discovered somethin' real crazy not too long ago."_

 _"..." Sonic didn't say a word._

 _Scourge shrugged at his silence and continued to explain. "You see Blue, I trashed your Doc's bases not too long ago. All twelve of 'em, all around your Mobius."_

 _Sonic's eyes went wide with shock. He couldn't have...Did he kill Eggman?_

 _"Some of them were already run down and abandoned, but had the potential to be operational again. So to make sure that couldn't happen, I wrecked them just a teensy bit more." Scourge clapped his hands once and exhaled shortly. "It was hard work but, I did it. Then, I found your Doc. He was plannin' some crazy plot to make you turn into some, weird dark form or some shit. Whatever that is..." He flagged it off and put his hands on his hips, looking at the ground and lightly kicking the sea stones on the sand._

 _Dark form? Sonic clenched his teeth while angrily looking down. Again with that idea? That was years ago, why would he even attempt at doing that again? Of course the bastard would try to find a way to use it as another one of his schemes. He was almost glad Scourge came into the picture to stop it._

 _"Anyway, I trashed the base he was in too. Then, before I nuked the whole place, I read up the research he recorded in some documents." The green menace pointed and wagged his finger at Sonic. "You my friend, are one special motherfucker."_

Shit. _Sonic thought. Why did he of all people have to find out about that?_

 _"I had no idea you had such dark origins, Blue!" His anti-double insultingly complimented with a round of applause. "Wow! And not only that, but ya got_ two _dark forms? Four forms in all, with two being your most powerful, that's able to wreck a_ planet?! _Duuuuude." Scourge chuckled under his breath as he continued to clap for Sonic. "I am so fuckin' jealous dude! So envious, I could turn green!" He blinked. "Oh wait, I already am." He busted out laughing, holding his side hysterically. "Oh man Blue, you sure got some skeletons in your closet."_

 _The cobalt hedgehog looked away shamefully. He hated those forms with a passion. He wished he never had them, never met them. Those two, were the worst of him. They were pure evil, and they made him look like a monster. And for someone to commend them for existing and being jealous of not having them, like they were a couple of trophies to be proud of, pissed him off to no end. He hated that his anti-self was the only person that could make him act so serious and angry in such a short amount of time. He was supposed to be snarky with his enemies. He was the one who was supposed to be cracking jokes, having the upper hand. But with him, that just wasn't the case._

 _"Now don't look so down." Scourge said with a more serious and sympathetic tone. The hero just scoffed at him. "Don't be like that buddy, come on-"_

 _"I'm not your damn buddy!" Sonic suddenly yelled, making the green hedgehog raise his brows._

 _"Woah. Consider that nerve touched."_

 _"If you want me, I'm right here." Sonic challenged. "I know what you're gonna do. Leave everyone out of this, and just take me."_

 _Scourge just laughed in his face. "Lookie here! Blue's actin' serious when a fight hasn't even started? What happened to that way past cool attitude, huh? What, growin' up decreased your basic idea of fun?"_

 _"What do you want from me now!?" The blue hedgehog pressed.  
_

 _His anti-self sighed with a pout. "Fine." He muttered. "So impatient," He trailed off before looking straight behind Sonic. With a startled expression, Sonic swiftly turned around, only to be stabbed with a syringe that pierced right into his shoulder. Someone's hand was already on it, injecting the contents into him. Their face was covered in a black hood, and he was already so woozy and dizzy, he couldn't even make out their figure anymore. His vision failed him, and he fell to the ground. "But that's to be expected of the fastest thing alive." He heard Scourge taunt as he was blacking out. "Good work, babe. I'll meet up with you in a sec. Got somethin' to do." He heard some footsteps, and felt himself being dragged across the rough sand. "Just keep goin' with the plan and get his ass in the castle. Oh and, try not to hurt him too much, kay?" The final thing he heard before passing out completely._

* * *

 _When he came to, he couldn't see a thing. All he saw was dark brown, with some kind of fabric-like texture. Did they put a damn bag over his head? Well, that made this a true kidnapping then, didn't it? His quills were tearing through it like paper, but it kept his face well covered. Must have been tied around his neck._

 _"Shit, he's awake already." A voice he didn't recognize at all. Then, he heard the sound of a car. Like, someone was parking it. He heard the slams of car doors too._

 _"I already knew the stuff wouldn't have him out for long. Wasn't that strong, just like I thought. Forget about that, just drag him out to the castle. We're almost there." A voice he_ did _recognize. Was that...He hoped to Chaos it wasn't. She'd be a real problem to deal with._

 _With a yelp, he felt himself fall from somewhere onto what felt like hard concrete. He then felt himself get dragged from a street to frail dead grass. Damn it, where the hell were they taking him? He didn't remember where he was being put after he was injected with that stuff. It made his memory fuzzy. His arms and legs were bound by something tough. It wasn't just normal rope, it felt like thick cable cords or something. And his feet was extra tied. Which was smart, because they knew he'd try to run. Speaking of which, his feet felt a little naked. Like he only had his socks-_

 _...Those assholes took his damn shoes._

 _That still wouldn't stop him from making a ruckus, though._

 _"Ngh!" Sonic struggled and wiggled in his binds, trying desperately to get them loose somehow. He knew they wouldn't actually break, but he did want to put some effort into it. He wanted a little attention. He rolled and fumbled around, making whoever was pulling him almost fall over._

 _"Argh! Damn it, quit moving around so much!"_

 _"If he wants to move around so bad, just make him walk. He couldn't run if he wanted to." The female voice said roughly. "Dumb ass..." She said under her breath._

 _"My apologies your highness. I'll make him walk, and behave!" The other voice he didn't recognize said obediently. Sonic smirked to himself. That's exactly what he wanted. He felt himself get yanked from the ground onto his feet. He heard the sound of something shiny and metallic, like a small blade. He heard some tearing and pulling, and the cables binding his feet snapped apart. His legs were free. Oooh boy did that feel good. If only he could get his shoes back. He was pulled by the forearm to follow in their direction, and was forced to walk with a bit of a stumble._

 _"Man these things stink." The girl said in disgust._

 _Sonic rolled his eyes. If someone runs all day in shoes and socks, you're damn right they would stink. Even with the new modification Tails put in them to decrease their funk, it isn't permanent. His quick-witted thoughts were interrupted by loud booming thunder. Oh of course it was about to rain. It was always dreary here anyway. He had a good feeling of where he was and who this girl was. And that made his stomach turn in fear a little bit. His feet were already gross from stepping in dusty dead grass, the last thing he needed was wet soaked-feet._

 _"Don't think about trying to get anywhere, Sonic." The female voice reminded. "Without your shoes, you're nothing. You're not the fastest thing alive anymore. Just behave a while, and you won't have to get hurt." She said with a rather smug voice._

 _Did she really just say the dumbest thing ever? Did she not know he didn't need his-Oh great Chaos, she didn't know. She must have thought since Scourge couldn't run without them, Sonic couldn't, instead of thinking the opposite by mistake. After all, everything was opposite about them. At least, that's what he assumed. Whatever. Her screw up, her eventual downfall. Because the next move he was going to make would be reckless and dangerous, but definitely worth it. "Tmmgnhhmnn." Sonic tried to say._

 _"Come again?" The female voice said, puzzled by Sonic's muffled mouth._

 _With an annoyed groan, Sonic put one leg behind the other and shot one of his feet high, and backflipped. Perfectly calculating where his kidnapper might be, he kicked his foot right in what felt like their nose. They made a pained grunt and accidentally let go of Sonic's arm, who landed gracefully back on his shoeless feet._

 _"Damn it!" He heard the girl curse. "Grab him already!" She ordered._

 _Who was she talking to? Damn, were there others around him that he couldn't hear? Well his question was answered when someone tried running towards him. Their footsteps gave it all away. He dodged to the left, and heard the faint sound of another blade. They were trying to stab him, really? He heard another swipe coming, so he dipped down to dodge this time. Then left, then right. He quickly turned his back towards them with his tied arms out in plain sight. He turned flawlessly the minute they swiped at him again. The blade cut through his second set of restraints, letting Sonic free._

 _Sonic wrung out his hands before lifting them up to the back of his head and untying the knot that held the bag over his face. He shook his head back and forth like a drenched mutt and let the bag slip away. Sonic sighed in relief, looking at his wrists and lightly rubbing them. A mark was starting to bruise. They tied him up pretty tight._

 _Sonic's ear twitched, hearing the others behind make another move to come at him. So he effortlessly stepped to the right and swung his own arm into the one that held the pocket knife. He set one foot down hard into the ground and swung them into the other side of the area, letting them land hard onto the dead grass and rolling. They were on some grassy pavement of a large street. The knife had flung away as well. "I said," Sonic said as he eyed his own socks that looked tattered. He bent down and hopped as he tried to peel them off one at a time without losing his balance. Once they were finally off, he threw somewhere behind him._

 _He was then suddenly in front of the girl he recognized and snatched his sneakers from out of her hands. She gasped in shock, not realizing he didn't need those shoes to move so fast. He stepped back a little with a smirk and proceeded to put on his sneakers as she glared at him. "That this is the crappiest kidnapping I've ever been victim of." The girl with red fur and blue eyes just growled at him in response. "Also, I'm a little offended you don't know me that well. Everyone knows I don't need my shoes to run fast. I just wear 'em so I don't hurt myself when I run. Ya know, momentum and all that jazz. It's so I don't catch on fire." He felt his sarcastic mouth run smoothly. Ahh, his mojo was coming back to him already. "My speed is nothin' but natural. I was born with it." He said proudly as he buckled them tightly._

 _"You are so fuckin' dead." The red fox grumbled. Sonic looked around and took in the setting. A despair filled atmosphere, garbage filled streets, dead natural flora and animals. Crows flying around, gray clouds, abandoned dingy buildings, crime-scented backgrounds...Yup, this was Moebius alright. He turned around behind him to see a good amount of thugs glowering at him. They were male and female Moebians, but they were all wearing black. What, was this some kind of gang? That would explain Scourge's new attire. Sonic turned back to face the girl he knew well, a red fox named Fiona, who was wearing a black attire as well, and the black hoodie he saw earlier._

 _"Fiona," Sonic said carefully, his playful attitude dispersing. "I dunno what you guys are planning," He said as he saw her thugs slowly coming closer from the corner of his eye. "But whatever it is, just stop." He took a few steps back cautiously, eyeing both her and them. "You already know how this is gonna go down."_

 _"I don't give a damn." She declared, eyeing for her minions to move in on Sonic and gesturing them to attack. Sonic caught this, and glanced to the side. They were rushing towards him at speedy paces. They were actually pretty fast, even for his standards. Nothing he couldn't beat but, definitely impressive for a couple of lackeys. There was at least less than a dozen of them. Again, nothing he couldn't handle._

 _The first one who came at him was a female rabbit. He didn't really like to hit girls, especially not one that resembled Ms. Vanilla, but this was his life on the line after all. Her and a couple others who were running behind her, other male Moebians, were coming for him like bulls. Thinking quick on his feet, no pun intended, he watched the movements of the two males. When they went to attack with punches, the female rabbit went to bring up her leg to kick. Sonic pulled their arms into his own to stop their attack all together, and kicked the rabbit first, right in her ribs. She fell down hard, leaving the other two males._

 _While still holding onto one of their arms, he let the other go and gave a nice crack in the jaw. He stumbled back, but didn't go down. Sonic then grabbed him by the fur of his head and tossed him over where his rabbit ally laid. He let the other male he had grabbed go and gave a round of punches to his face and gut. He went down with a bloody nose and a quiet whimper._

 _Six more of those thugs came sprinting towards him. Ooh this would be a doozy. But he fought worse before. A couple females and the rest males. And one of them was real beefy. Alright, guess he'd take that one down first. He made a sudden shock wave as he ran off away from the spot he previously stood at. The boom shook the ground, making some of them lose their balance. That included the big guy. A big gray bulldog wearing that weird black garb. Sonic jumped and dropped kicked the mutt right in the center of his face. He growled from the pain but didn't fall. So Sonic landed on his back and punched the back of his head over and over._

 _Grunting from being knocked in the head over and over, the Moebian dog tried reaching from behind his back to grab Sonic, but he couldn't reach him. The hedgehog reeled his fist back and gave a real good sock this time, making the dog see stars and fall to his knees and soon, the ground. He shook his hand. That hurt his knuckles a little. Speaking of which, if Knuckles were here, he would have took the guy down in a few less hits. He back flipped from off of him and landed on his feet. He eyed his audience, who seemed put off by their strongest guy getting knocked down so easily._

 _Not wasting anymore time dawdling, Sonic bolted to the group of gang members and began his onslaught. With only five of them in this group left, he felt an easy win coming along. He shoved and punched one of them in the face, kicking him away from the crowd. He grabbed and kneed someone else in the abdomen. It would have landed in his face, but he was a little taller than Sonic, so his stomach was the unlucky target. He tossed him away like trash as well, before dodging the two females in the group. They tried attacking simultaneously with pocket knives, but he easily slapped them from their hands and gave them both swift kicks to the chests._

 _With the last guy in their group left who seemed rather reluctant and fearful, Sonic just blew out some air and walked towards him calmly. He jumped and did a split kick in the air, nailing him right in the face. He fell miserably, groveling on the ground while covering his face in agony. Sonic dusted himself off, but flinched once he saw them all struggle to get back on their feet. Every single one he fought since he started this, got up and rushed to Sonic once again. Surprised by this, he was surrounded. Sonic could only watch as they ganged up on him and jumped him. He could only cover his face with his arms as he was punched and kicked to the ground. They all stood above him, beating him senseless._

 _Little did they know, he was taking the hits like a champ. It did hurt, especially the hits from the big dog guy, but it didn't matter. He was far too confident. He grinned as his body was soon engulfed in a bright blue aura. It glowed and shined, making his attackers wince from the light and stop their movements. A large boom resonated from area. The power was so forceful, its aura could be seen in the air. The thugs flew off in different directions, scattering all over the area, yards away from Sonic now. The shock wave was so strong, it knocked them all off their feet instantly._

 _Sonic was now standing alone, looking proud at his work._

 _His ear twitched at the sound of a car engine and the screech of tires. A large black truck stopped right beside Fiona, dead grass blades and dusts flying from the ground with tire tracks trampling the earth. Fiona just continued to stare holes into Sonic as people jumped out from the vehicle like military men. And this time, they didn't have those little knives. They had guns._ Not good _, Sonic thought. But once again, nothing he couldn't handle. As they aimed and slowly got closer, Sonic got down on his hands and knees. He made a track runner position, readying himself to run. Fiona watched carefully, trying to figure out what he'd do next. The hero of Mobius Prime closed his eyes and balled his fists up in the ground, focusing hard on his energy._

 _The aura on his body got so strong, it covered Sonic's entire form. The only thing anyone could see now was the silhouette of a hedgehog. Then, Sonic darted off, leaving a trail of blue aura that drifted in the air like a mist. He ran full force at the team of guns and moved like a true Olympic winning sprinter, with no intention of stopping. They tried scampering away, but unfortunately, Fiona was the only one who managed to get away. She was lucky by mere seconds, because Sonic had collided with both the gang, and their truck at the same time._

 _Another boom-like sound echoed throughout the area. Sonic skidded his sneakers to a halt. Behind him was the now wrecked car, and passed out gang members. They were all smoking like they were recently on fire. Sonic turned to glance at his work and mentally sighed. That was a bit harsh. They weren't robots after all. But, him pulling his punches during battle was why some of his enemies always came back. Shadow once told him, sometimes you have to be a little cruel. Playing pacifist all the time would eventually get him killed, and it almost did a couple times before._

 _He looked at Fiona, who was astonished by this power. Sonic tried once again to reason with her, steadily walking towards her direction. "Look, Fiona-"_

 _"Stay back!" She yelled, whipping out a pistol from her belt._

 _"Listen," Sonic said gently as he moved a little closer. "I told you this wouldn't go your way. Now put that thing down and just call this whole thing off."_

 _"Get away."_

 _"I know you guys are planning to target my friends. I mean, that's the typical bad guy thing to do. Well, call up Scourge and tell him to back off." He started shaking his head. "I don't want to fight you. Not again."_

 _"I'm warning you Sonic!" She warned once again, taking the safety off of the weapon._

 _"Fiona, please. Just-" The moment he took another step, he heard a bang He then felt a horrible stinging and throbbing sensation in his arm. Sonic blinked and looked down at his shoulder. There was a bullet right in his flesh. It hurt like hell, but he couldn't even react. He put his hand up to the new wound, watching as fresh blood drained out. He looked at her with disbelief in his eyes, never thinking that she'd ever shoot him. With a weak voice, he made a pitiful smile. "I..I know you got a grudge against me an' all, but..." He didn't finish his sentence._

 _"And I'll do it again." She threatened with absolutely no emotion in her voice. She began to smile with a rather sinister expression. "I'll do it fifty more times if I have to. You and everyone you care about, I'll happily kill you all!"_

 _"And I'm sad to say," Sonic croaked as he took his hand away from his wound with a hiss. "I can't let you do that!" He cried before charging into her at supersonic speed. He slammed into her with a head butt, knocking her several feet away with a pained scream. She fell down hard on her side, the gun dropping away from her hand. Blood trickled down from her hair, and she squinted her eyes from the terrible headache that was forming._

 _"C-Crap!" Sonic jogged over to her and knelt beside her body. He didn't mean to hurt her that bad. She was gonna get a migraine from that, at the very least. He watched as Fiona fluttered her eyes a bit before closing them and blacking out. She was unconscious. Sonic panicked. "Damn it! Fiona!" He called, shaking her body. "Come on, seriously! Wake up already!" He knew he shouldn't have did that, but he had no other choice! She was going to kill him! But, he just as easily could have killed her with that head butt. She wasn't as strong as he was, not by a long shot, no matter how much she wouldn't admit it._

 _He lifted up her head onto his thigh, wincing from his bullet wound to hold her. He hoped to Chaos he didn't kill her, he really did. She was bad, but she didn't deserve this, not by him. The drizzling, and soon heavy pouring of rain didn't even bother him. Both he and her were drenched in minutes, but, it didn't wash away all the blood. She hated him, so much. She hated that he accidentally abandoned her. She hated that he never went to look for her. She hated how much of a goody-goody he was. She hated that he was a hero. And she hated that she still had lingering feelings for him. That was his own opinion but, it was obvious that she still had something for him. It was faint, but it was definitely still there. Probably because of how he and his anti-self resembled each other so much._

 _The sound of rubber splashing and squeaking through rain caught his attention through the silence. Sonic lifted up his head, tightening his hold on Fiona. He almost gasped, the man of the hour finally arrived._

 _Scourge stepped a couple of feet away from the two, and looked around. He saw his men on the ground, beaten and out cold. One of his trucks, ruined to shit. So badly damaged that repairing it was out of the question. He saw trails of blood. Some from his men, some from Sonic, and some from his fiance, his queen. The few words he said from his mouth, actually made a shiver go up Sonic's spine. The only enemy that could strike fear in his body._

 _"...You did all this?" Scourge asked rather eagerly in a low tone, looking down on Sonic like a tower. The hero of Mobius, gently placed Fiona's head on the ground, no longer touching his anti-self's 'merchandise'._

 _"...Yeah." Sonic retorted._

 _"And you, thought hurtin' my girl would make you seem cool or some shit?" Scourge playfully smirked, but it was a mask. He was making a really pissed off expression. "Come on, be honest."_

 _"Of course not." The blue one quickly countered. "I'd never hurt a girl like that."_

 _"Ohoho, excuse me mister gentleman, I forgot who I was talking to. The hypocritical guy who beat up my female gang members, and," He put up his index finger. "This here's the kicker._ And, _you beat up my future wife." He clapped his hands a few times. "What a real gentleman." He spat._

 _"She shot me, I had to find a way to stop her!" Sonic exclaimed, standing up on his feet._

 _"By beatin' the fuckin' shit out of her."_

 _"No I didn't! All I did was head butt her, she was gonna kill me!"_

 _"Ooooohh! Even_ fuckin' _better!" Scourge hollered, a smile no longer visible on his face. He then looked away briefly to regain his composure, chuckling before facing Sonic again. "Listen, I don't like when something of mine gets damaged."_

 _Sonic made a callous look. "You talk about her like some kind of medal."_

 _"Yeah and guess who she's riding at night, me or you? Oh yeah that'd be me." He boasted. "I got her now, Blue. Meaning I can talk about her how ever the fuck I want. Quit actin' like a white knight in shining armor."_

 _"You're a damn pig!"_

 _"And you're not listening." Scourge replied softly. "I'll punish you for hurting her later. But for now, you need to know what's gonna go down." He put his hands in his jacket pockets and slowly smiled. "Fi's not gonna be the only thing that's mine."_

 _The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes and scowled._

 _"Let's just say I'm like you in this instance." He shrugged as he moved his legs to get closer to Sonic. "I'm not all straight. I'm into guys a little, too. Tried it a few times, not too bad. Oh and," Scourge quickly added. "Don't ask how I know you like dudes. Let's just say I put two and two together with the 'long hiatus' of dating, and the pitiful amount of sex you lack in your life."_

 _Oh hell no. Sonic's mind was telling him to run right now._

 _He turned and tried to run, but his arm was caught and pulled harshly to Scourge. Right in his face._

 _"I have such great things to show you, Blue. Great things to show, and to do. So many things...to do to you, Sonic." His face was darkened, only his piercing and almost glowing icy blue eyes showing through the dark rain. His shiny gleaming white fanged teeth were revealed as he smiled. It was twisted, malice was drawn all over him. His grip was a death grip. It threatened to rip Sonic's arm off. Scourge had an expression split between pure madness and insanity, and pure happiness. "It'll be so much fun." He deathly whispered._

 _Sonic's body couldn't move, he was literally paralyzed with fear._

 _"Today I will show you," He let go of Sonic's arm and stared at him. "What true despair and evil, really is."_

 _Black aura surrounded him. The next thing Sonic saw next, he couldn't say, because that's how fast it was. He found himself knocked down on his butt, a red mark appearing on his cheek as blood dripped down. What he saw next, was a true monster coming out of it's shell. What Scourge was really like, his true persona. His chaos energy made the perfect image of that, a psychopath crouching over him. He actually_ saw _a giant source of energy made of pure negative chaos, form into a silhouette of...He didn't even know. It really was a monster. The power of the sacred shrines, this must have been his._

 _All he saw next, was darkness._

 _One could see Scourge carrying an unconscious Fiona, and an unconscious Sonic over his shoulders in the direction of a large abandoned looking castle._

* * *

 **END - 5**

 **PLEASE read this.**

 **For those of you who are reviewing and supporting this story, I thank you with hugs and gentle kisses. I love you all so much, I wish nothing but the absolute best for you, and I hope I can continue making your literary life happy by posting more chapters.**

 **Now for those of you who keep PMing me about Role Playing, I'll say this nicely one last time.**

 **I do NOT role play. I used to in the past, _I do not_ do that anymore due to personal circumstances. **

**If you PM me again about role playing, expect me to ignore you or even block you. I cannot stress how annoying that is. Especially if I say no the first time, and you still PM me about it _again._**

 **For those of you who don't get the hint, I'll say it in a way you may understand better.**

 ** _Do not fucking PM me about role playing again. I don't_ _role play, so stop fucking messaging me about it._**

 **Now for those of you who didn't have any ill intentions while trying to get me to role play, I do apologize for this rude author's note. It's definitely not all of you. I'm sure you all mean well, but PLEASE.**

 **PLEEEEAAAASE.  
**

 **STOP. PMING ME. ABOUT ROLE PLAYING.**

 **I. DON'T. ROLE. PLAY.**

 **Edit: Looks like someone didn't want to listen. Well one of those pesky little bastards who didn't want to stop PMing me is blocked now. Consider this a warning, or you'll be reported. Sorry about this, everyone.**

 **For those of you who could care less about role playing, please pay this no mind. Just continue to be beautiful and kind. Sorry for the long author's note, I've just about had it with these damn messages. Anyway, _please_ review about the story, tell me what you think. Please have a nice day.**


	6. Despair

**Warning: Slightly dirty.**

 **6 - Despair**

* * *

 _He screamed his lungs out. He screamed so high, so loud, he was burning his voice box. He slammed his fists against the walls, he rolled off the bed. He punched his fists into the floors, begging for someone, anyone to make the pain stop. He hugged himself so tight, he couldn't breath. He needed help. He needed someone in here, he needed someone to wake him up from this torture. He couldn't wake up, he wouldn't wake up..._

* * *

"Just put him on the chair." Scourge lazily ordered. One of his lackeys bowed respectfully and tossed the blue hedgehog onto a hard, metallic chair with thick metal clamps. The lackey marched over and seized Sonic's legs. He placed them in the appropriate places for the clamps, and did the same for his wrists. He made sure he sat comfortably, with his head laying against the metal softly. Scourge lifted up the palm of his hand in the direction of Sonic and the chair. With his chaos energy, it coursed through the room and into the metal clamps. They suddenly snapped shut on Sonic's limbs, restraining him once again. Satisfied with his work, without looking at the lackey he told him to buzz off. "Get out." He mumbled, but his servant heard him loud and clear, and scurried out of the room while shutting the doors.

Scourge walked over while dragging a simple wooden chair in front of Sonic. He sat down closely, and raised his hand to slap the very taste from his mouth.

"Time to wake up, Blue. Rise and shine."

With a wince, Sonic clenched his closed eye lids tightly, but then slowly opened them to the world once more. He was in some kind of room. It surprisingly looked homey. Like some kind of cottage. It had windows that, didn't show the outside world. It didn't show anything, just a black wall behind them. All they had were white curtains. The floors were hardwood, with a carpet over it. The walls were a bright, but gentle color. Almost white, with a coffee table and a lamp on top of it. A quilt-like frame was on the wall above the entrance to the room, reading 'HOME SWEET HOME.' There was a bed in the corner of the room, with a nightstand by it, and a small dresser with a full body mirror. There was a metallic medical looking table on the side with weird tools on them. By the double doors, the entrance of the room, there were two switches. Other than that, the room was kinda empty.

What the hell did he get himself into?

"Fiona's okay." Scourge suddenly said. He was holding up a lighter with a cigarette in his mouth. He held up the flame to burn off the crisp bud of the cancer stick, smoke beginning to drift around. He sucked in a puff, and exhaled lewdly. Sonic just scoffed at this. Just disgusting. Scourge chuckled at his stubborn nature. "My apologies, did you want one?" He asked politely while handing over his cigarette pack to Sonic. He just continued to make a death glare at him. "Pfft." He put the pack of cigs back in his jacket pocket and crossed his legs while holding the stick between his fingers. "You'd probably choke your first try."

"..." No retort.

"Anyway, we got your arm fixed up. Should be alright, despite being sore." The green hedgehog flicked some of the ashes off and placed it back between his lips. "I know what you're probably thinking. 'Why the hell are you smokin' like that? That's way past uncool', or something along those lines." He teased. "Well, we're both almost twenty, and I've been doing it since I was like thirteen, so why the fuck not? Oddly, weed don't do shit for me. 'Sides, I'm sure your little emo friend does it too. What was his name again? Stripes err..somethin'.." Scourge scratched his head with a confused frown.

"You're talking about...Shadow." Sonic murmured.

"Say that again?" His anti-self held up his hand to his own ear.

"His name's Shadow. He's the only guy that I know with stripes on him. You never met him."

"True, but I do know about him. I've seen him a few times thanks to a certain someone who I won't name." He blew smoke from his nose and mouth before exhaling greatly.

"What, do you want from me?" Sonic asked for the thousandth time today. Scourge shrugged and flicked the ashes off his stick again.

"You." He simply stated.

The hero blinked in surprise. "..M-Me?"

"Mmhm." Scourge stood up from his seat and threw his cigarette to the ground carelessly, stepping on the bud with his boot to put it out. He didn't even finish it. He waltzed over to the bound hedgehog and stepped behind him. He placed his hands over on his shoulders and smiled down at him. "I want those powers you got. And after I take 'em, I want you to myself."

"Get the hell off of me." Sonic instantly warned.

"Chill the fuck out, dude. I'm not gonna probe you or whatever...yet.." He giggled at the last part. "Now Blue," Scourge began. "We can do this two ways. One, I torture it out of you, or two, you give it and yourself to me willingly. If you don't act like a good boy, something's gonna get broken." He nicely threatened. Sonic just shook his shoulders away from his hands.

"Screw you."

Scourge closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright..." He stepped away from the 'comfy' chair and went towards a wall where there was the two light switches he saw earlier. The green hedgehog shrugged and flipped the right one. Suddenly, electricity shot throughout the chair. All throughout his legs, Sonic felt the surging and burning pain of intense electrical power. He screamed and hollered in pain, the volts being on an extremely high level. Scourge just watched with a bored expression and he leaned against the wall. Sonic's body shook rapidly, tossing himself back and forth against the chair from the violent shocks. Spit began to fly from his mouth as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He could tell he was about to black out. They way his eyes kept shrinking and dilating, the way his screams began to snuff out. Well, this kind of power was enough to turn on a couple of AC's, plus more than a few appliances at once. That's enough to cause a power surge. Guess he should turn it off, now.

Scourge flipped the switch off and returned to his seat in front of Sonic. The hero was almost completely gone, until he received another smack to the face to wake him up. What a scary look for him. His pretty lime green eyes bugged out with his mouth agape. He was trembling like a leaf, but he was still acting defiant. "T-That..." Sonic forced a smirk. "..All you got, asshole?" He spat right in Scourge's face.

Silently sighing, Scourge wiped off the saliva and folded his hands under his chin. "Still being difficult." He didn't care though. "No matter. I needed you vulnerable to do this anyway." He shoved the palm of his hand onto his head, making Sonic struggle. He wanted him off of him _right_ now. "I can always just rip your forms from out of your head by force. You're not the only one who got a new power from the shrines." He gloated maliciously as Sonic began to scream again. He tried kicking, but it hurt too much to move his legs. He tried so hard, so hard to fight back all day. He fought and fought _and fought_ , and no matter what, it just got him in deeper trouble. Why did it have to be like this? He just wanted to see his home island, a small vacation. That's all he asked for, and this was the payment he got back?

"No! _STOP!_ " Sonic hollered to the top of his lungs. "Y-You can't..! If you release them onto the world...! STOP IT!"

"Ain't no stoppin' now, Blue!" Scourge exclaimed as he felt himself go deeper and deeper, tearing into Sonic's head. Blue, **red** and black aura blasted into the room, covering everything in sight. Chaos was now the ruler of this place. "No turning back now! This is for real!"

"NO!" Sonic cried.

* * *

It was all black.

Just...Darkness.

Just a black empty space, a void of nothing.

Yet, there was some kind of floor here, because his feet was perfectly still on something. Scourge curiously looked around. So this was the extent of his new powers. A chaos ability able to reach into someone's mind that led directly to the link of _their_ powers. Interesting. He specifically went to the dark place of Sonic's mind. Did he just see something? Wait...

...What was that? A red spark in the darkness..?

It kept flashing, like it wanted him to come closer. Well, nothing would happen until he touched it, right? That's usually how these things worked. Like in video games. He casually went over to the strange red light, looking down at it with great fascination. That color, it was one of the four that was described in Eggman's studies. The color **scarlet**. Scourge's eyes widened with glee. If this was the color scarlet, that meant he found the most powerful form of them all! Oh shit, this day couldn't get any fucking better!

Just like the time he placed his hand on the master emerald, he was so elated. The despair and destruction he'd cause with this power. The absolute annihilation of worlds at his finger tips! The very universe would bow at his feet, begging for his mercy at every turn! He could invade No Zone, Mobius...Hell, why stop there!? All he had to do, just like his seventeenth birthday, was to place his hand on the beautiful evil light. Let it consume him, and take him. He didn't even realize his eyes were swirling, and he was so greedy for power it almost made him drool. Once his fingers grazed the light, it sparked. When it did that, he felt intense energy from that little action alone. Chaos, it felt so heavy, so pressuring! It felt so much like madness! Like the very essence of disorder and mayhem! It felt _so good!_

Shit...was he getting hard? Ha, geez.

..What was that?

Was that chanting in the back ground? Who was that whispering-No wait. Why was it getting louder? It was getting more immense by the second. But whatever tune these bastards were singing, sounded very distorted. And yet, it sounded like music to his ears. Then, something began to push him. Like a strong wind. He tried holding himself planted on the floor while trying to figure out just what was going on. Red aura flowed towards the sparkling scarlet light, making it bigger and brighter. Scourge stared, waiting patiently for what would come next.

And then, he saw something even greater.

The scarlet light imploded on itself, making the aura explode all throughout the empty space. In the midst of the light, a large silhouette of pure chaos formed. It was a normal hedgehog figure, like they were in a super form. But then, behind it, was something that was growing much larger. It was some kind of creature he couldn't even begin to describe. It was something straight out of a mental patient's nightmare. It had lanky like limbs, sharp long fingers that stretched. Weird swirling red eyes that were hypnotic. It loomed over Scourge like a titanic hawk, hunched over him. The hedgehog silhouette was no better. It was morphing and changing into odd things he couldn't even comprehend. This creature, this form, was something truly straight out of hell.

Scourge could only look in shock with his mouth agape.

It was _gorgeous._

The large monster suddenly pointed towards Scourge with his devil eyes. Was he worthy? He didn't know, but he only cracked a smile. He spread out his arms willingly, offering his body.

 _ **"Your malice, your ill-nature..."**_ A wicked sounding voice said. It sounded warped, and even backwards, yet not. He even sounded like Sonic.

"I'm whatever you want me to be baby. I'm all yours!" Scourge happily accepted.

 ** _"A mortal who wishes for the destruction of the world."_ ** The voice's foul tone whispered in a hiss.

"Yes! That's all I want. To kill and destroy everything and everyone that opposes me, make everything mine!"

 _ **"How intriguing. A mortal who's more interesting than my own host. Humorous."**_

"I'm everything you want and more. I'm a much more worthy host than Blue." The green one fearlessly proposed to the scarlet creature.

 _ **"Why should I believe the simple-minded words of a common, perishable existence?"**_

"Because even if my plans do fail," The anti-hedgehog smiled murderously. "I guarantee you, the world'll be scarred forever."

 _ **"..."**_ The voice became silent. The red creatures faded away in a flash, disappearing instantly. Confused, Scourge blinked several times and looked around. Even the weird, distorted, whispering choir stopped. When he blinked one more time, he saw a hedgehog in front of him. This startled Scourge a little, so he backed away. It was a golden hedgehog, like Super Sonic. But, this one was like an evil version of him. His quills were more jagged and sharp. His gloves were ripped and had sharp nails growing from them. His fur even seem roughed up. The sides of his cheeks and muzzle were almost like, ripped. Like some parts were nothing but exposed muscle tissue. And his eyes, were the same eyes as that creature's.

That red hypnotic swirl...

The hedgehog was floating with his legs crossed and his elbow leaning on his knee, with his muzzle leaning on the palm of his hand.

 _ **"So you wish to devastate the world."**_

The green hedgehog hesitated, feeling a little intimidated by the entity. "You're a God?" He asked. He didn't know why the question suddenly popped up, but with all this intense power coming from the guy who's only _breathing,_ he had to put two and two together. Who wouldn't assume that?

 _ **"I am chaos, and I am mayhem. I am the epitome of destruction."**_

"Didn't really answer my question, but alright." The mortal Moebian grinned. "So then? Do I got the job?"

 _ **"If you promise to cause nothing but misery and disarray, I will grant you one of my powers. If you succeed in your plans, I will lend you everything, and you will become my new host. But only then."**_

"Sweet." Scourge sneered. "This, is way too good. I don't think I should be this happy. I simply don't deserve it!" He laughed.

 _ **"Should you fail,"**_ The mighty being interrupted his small celebration. _ **"My power will corrupt you. And you will be ultimately destroyed, while I live on."**_

"..." Scourge didn't really like the sound of that. But he needed whatever he was willing to give him. If it was gonna help him rule over everything, he should go for it. He had nothing left to lose, and he never held any regrets. So the hell with it. "Fair enough. I accept your conditions."

 _ **"Very well."**_ His hands were suddenly on top of Scourge's head to keep him still. The green hedgehog squinted his eyes suspiciously. The hell was happening now? And he really didn't like the look this guy was giving- _**"It shall be done."**_

With his swirling eyes looking straight at him, he felt his own blue ones get vaporized by something strong. It burned like hot coals. He screamed from the sudden intense pain coursing through his irises. The hypnotic gaze was taking over him. It was making him look deeper, deeper into the abyss of hell. The color of scarlet filled his vision, and that's all he could see.

All he saw was _red._

* * *

"A-Ah!" Scourge yelped as he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards onto his chair. He panted heavily, his eyes closed tightly. It burned so bad, he was scared to open them. He pushed himself off of the floor and stood up while lightly wobbling back and forth. He carefully opened his eyes back up, revealing his normal ice blue. Man, it felt like he got pepper sprayed by acid. The burning sensation was starting to go away, but he was badly sore. It hurt to look around. He stumbled back over to his kidnapped victim and pulled up the fallen chair. He then slumped in the wooden furniture.

Sonic was laid against the metallic chair, just as slumped as he was, if not worse. His eyes were open, half lidded, but his pupils tiny. He looked like he was in dire pain. He was breathing irregularly, and his knees were trembling. His eyes were red and bloodshot. He looked miserable. Scourge almost felt bad.

"Aww." He pouted. "Shit, didn't mean to make you look like _that._ " He said almost genuinely sympathized. Aw, maybe a little peck on the cheek would make him feel better-

"N-No..Stop. Stop doing that." Sonic barely muttered.

His anti-self blinked. "Stop doing what?"

"With your mouth, stop!" Sonic sharply looked away. "Stop damn it!" He yelled.

"But I'm not-" Scourge's eyes slowly widened. He then ran to the mirror that was by the small dresser and looked closely at his eyes. They were icy blue, until they suddenly flashed into that odd red swirl again. That was the power he gave him. It suddenly went away when he blinked. Was he doing something to Sonic just by thinking of what he could do to him? He thought of kissing his cheek, so did Sonic really think it was happening when it wasn't? The green Moebian smiled evilly.

Oh this was so awesome, it was almost unfair.

Then, he looked back at his prime-self. No, he had to test this out first, to make sure he wasn't just crazy. See how this new power worked.

At first, he was using it for small things. Like, making Sonic think he had a cut or two. But then...Honestly, he began abusing it. He realized, he was making him hallucinate. He was making him believe things that weren't actually happening, or wouldn't ever happen! He made him start to believe information that wasn't even true. He was brainwashing him! After five hours of straight mental torture, he had Sonic right where he wanted him. Maybe this was both brainwashing and hypnotism? Ehh, who knew? He fucking loved it either way. He didn't even need to put his hands on Sonic. All those torture tools were for nothing!

It was great. First, he made him see himself killing innocent little stupid animals. Then he made him thought he killed Rouge and all the other people of Mobius. Then, made him see visions of him killing Tails, then Amy, then Knuckles...That one really sent him over the age. Then he made him vision himself drowning in water. Pfft, why was he afraid of water anyway? Most hedgehogs could swim after all. The mind fucks were so realistic to him, Sonic soon screamed and begged him to stop. He even made him cry a bit. Not much though, which made Scourge a little disappointed. Sonic demanded what he wanted from him, that he'd happily give it if he'd just stop. Scourge said he wanted to see another form come out, and that he wanted Sonic to give up his freedom to him.

Of course he refused, and that was his mistake.

Scourge sighed with a small simple smile. "Then I'll persuade you."

Sonic looked down below himself to see some kind of weird padding on the chair. Then he heard a beep. His legs began shaking rapidly back and forth, as did his entire body. It didn't hurt, it wasn't the electricity again. It was a buzzing sound. His anti-self just smirked and watched the magic begin. Sonic gasped as he felt a shock of pleasure shoot through his back. This was a damn _vibrator!_ His face turned red as his thighs unconsciously spread apart. The pain from the electricity before was suddenly all gone. He tried fighting off the pleasurable feeling, but Scourge was forcing him to like it. It was starting to feel so good, he began moaning.

After a while, Sonic's mouth was hung open, having silent or surprised moans and gasps. His thighs were sweating a little, and he felt himself getting hard. He didn't want to feel this way, he hated it and he didn't want it. He wanted it to stop already!

"Like that, baby?" His anti-self flirted.

"T-Turn this t-thing off!" Sonic stuttered. "A-Ah, aahh!" He tossed his head back while a white substance splattered on his peach abdomen. He dipped his head low disgracefully embarrassed.

"Mmn~ Sexy." Scourge mocked with a chuckle. "You came a bit too fast. That's not your fault, though. After all, you're probably a virgin. And if not, you sure as hell ain't do it in a long time." He put his hands on his hips, and his voice was understanding. As if he just wanted to negotiate. "I can make this all stop if you just give up, Blue."

"N-Never..." Sonic spat. "Fuck you!" He insulted as his voice shook.

"Woah there! You're not supposed to use such language like that! I am!" Scourge gasped. "Geez, now I really gotta punish you!" He pouted. But then, he smiled again. Since he hated the pleasurable punishments, he'd just give him more painful ones.

The next several hours, he tortured him further. Making him think he beat him almost to death. Making him think he ripped out his knee caps. Making him think he was getting stabbed over and over. He truly made him feel the worst pain imaginable, without harming a hair on him. After a while, Sonic _did_ cry. It was a very special sight to see. It was right as Scourge ended one of his torturous visions. Sonic just scrunched his face up in pain, but then softened his expression as if he gave up. He laid limp against the seat and just sat there, looking down at the floor. He was exhausted. He was salivating involuntarily, and snot was even dripping from his nose. He almost pissed himself. He was surprised he didn't. Tears just dripped from his eyes. He kept thinking he was bleeding out, that he was dying, but he wasn't. Scourge didn't do anything to him. He kept forgetting that.

Sonic's bright pretty eyes, were dead and dark. That's what he felt like. He felt like he wanted to die. He actually wanted to die.

How much time passed? The windows were blocked. Maybe it was days. Weeks, maybe months. Maybe he's been here for years and has yet to escape. He felt like he hadn't eaten in decades. He felt like his stomach was caving in on itself. He wanted to die so badly. But if he admitted that, he'd be giving up. And he refused to let Scourge get what he wanted. He'd never give up his freedom for anyone.

He'd be giving up who he was, the whole concept of liberty and peace itself. That was him. And he'd die first before anyone stole it away from him.

Scourge actually looked a little guilty. And, he was. He wished Sonic didn't make him go to such great lengths to make him give in. It was almost like No Zone prison, just not as brutal. Well, only by a little bit. He was actually willing to just force Sonic into doing what he wanted so he could stop. After all, he did want him, he didn't want to kill him. But, he didn't want to force it this time. He wanted to hear Sonic give up. Hearing it, would make his day even more unbelievably better. He just sat in the wooden chair, looking unsatisfied with a frown. He tapped his finger against the arm of his chair and sighed. "What's it gonna take Blue? You're bringing this down on yourself."

"..." Sonic couldn't even produce words, much less comprehend them at this point.

"I'll give you one more chance. No more games, no more visions. This time, it's gonna be real if you don't answer the way I want you to." Scourge stood up from the chair and walked over in front of Sonic. He knelt down so they were at eye level and put his hands on the binds on his legs, allowing his energy to enter. The metal clamps on his legs and hands both snapped open. Even if Sonic was free, he couldn't even try to escape if he wanted to. He was way too tired. "If you don't turn into your dark form, Dark Sonic, I'm gonna go back to Mobius. I'll make myself look like you, and I'll kill everyone there." His tone was unusually serious and calm. His threat was very sincere, and he was impatient. Sonic's eyes shook a little from that, he understood his words perfectly.

"N..No.." He meekly whispered. "You can't-"

"I will if you don't do what I say." He strictly promised. "I'm done waiting, Blue. I'll make everyone think their hero massacred the people they thought he loved. I will ruin your name, and end your friends' lives. Every. Single. One." He stood up and hovered his hand over Sonic's head, ready to bring another form back to light. "Clear?"

"..Crystal." Sonic looked back down. There was literally nothing he could do. These binds decreased his chaos levels and physical power. He was drained. He was mentally exhausted, he couldn't even see straight. What the hell could he do now? If it wasn't for that threat, he still wouldn't comply. But it was his friends' lives on the line. His little brother, Shadow, everyone, he couldn't let them get killed. Not like this. He had to do something, even if it was the cost of his identity. If he had to give up his freedom in order to let everyone else live on and be happy, he had no problem with that.

There were great people out there who deserved to keep living. Who deserved to live life and be happy with their family and friends. Tails would be fine. Knuckles would take care of him. Amy will move on. Shadow and Rouge could handle themselves.

"If...If you promise not to kill them," Sonic suddenly said. "I'll give myself up to you. I'll let you force out Dark."

"Good choice." Scourge placed his hand on top of Sonic's head, preparing himself to perform another rip through his skull. To his surprise, his prime-self started to smile. He felt his hand gently grab his own. With a flinch, Scourge eyed Sonic dubiously. What, he still had some fight left in him? After _all_ that bullshit!?

"It's a shame. A damn shame." He whispered.

"The fuck?" The other deadpanned.

Sonic chuckled a little. "I tried. I really did. Guess you can't win 'em all." He exhaled slowly and began pulling Scourge closer down towards him. With his weak pull, Scourge just went along with it. He couldn't have been planning to attack or anything. He was as frail as glass now. Suddenly, his anti-self was right in front of his face as he heard his words. "I didn't want to do this. I really didn't." He squeezed the green hedgehog's arm tighter. "I didn't want to die before, but now knowing what you're going to make me do after you turn me...It makes me want to, so much." He bit his lip and his body shook. Sounded like he was trying to hold something in. More tears, perhaps? "I'm a horrible person with these demons inside of me. And now I'm going to be the one who..." His hand trembled against him. "I wanted to see the others, tell them how much I love them. How much they mean to me. To keep protecting them and acting like their hero." He turned his head to Scourge and with watery eyes, glanced up at him with a sad smile. "You're so screwed up, but I could have saved you too."

"...What?"

"I could have saved you from yourself before it was too late." Sonic sniffed. "Something horrible happened in your life for it to turn you this way. And I'm sorry for whatever happened in your past. I'm sorry I couldn't be a friend to you instead of a bitter enemy at the time. Would have been a whole lot better than this, after all." He joked with sorrow in his voice. Mobius Prime's hero looked back down in shame. "If things were different, I'm sure we could have been.." He couldn't finish his sentence. Because all the light and emotion in his eyes faded away as he fell unconscious for the final time that day.

 _With his words still replaying in his mind, Scourge just stared at nothing as he allowed Sonic to faint against him._

 _He didn't get it. After everything he did to him, after all the shit and pain he put him through, all the despair he shoved in his heart, he still wanted to be selfless. He still wanted to protect and save others. He still wanted to be a sacrifice for the greater good._

 _He still wanted to be someone's friend._

 _He still, in a way, forgave him for everything he's done._

 _And he apologized to him. Why? Why was he so kind?_

 _It was so revolting! Who the fuck did shit like that? Who says shit like that!? No one in their right mind would forgive anyone for what he's done! He stole his girl, took her virginity, hurt his friends numerous times, ruined his reputation more than once, kidnapped him, and tortured him for eight hours straight!_

 _And yet, he said he could have been his..._

 _Then, for a split second before Scourge scooped Sonic into his arms, he saw himself laying in his position. Beaten and weary like when he as a child after the person he thought he loved hurt him. He always forgave him no matter how hard he hit him. Maybe, this was a similar thing?_

 _His madness didn't effect him at all. If anything, it seemed like it made his good nature even stronger. The crueler he was, the kinder he was. It was so different. Even while he was out cold, he still defied him. That strong naive sense of compassion, it was alluring. No wonder he was always so jealous of him. Why he had this fur color, green. He no longer wanted to hurt him. He no longer physically lusted for him._

 _He needed him. To be his._

 _His eye lids twitched, and then he shut them quickly before opening them back up. He put his hand up to his face, before looking down at his palm, to see his vision watery._

 _Why was there a tear in his hand?_

 _...Why was he crying?_

* * *

"Sonic! Damn it, you idiot wake the hell up!" Knuckles' voice woke him up. He was shaking the blue blur's body back and forth violently, desperately trying to wake him up. He slammed him against the bed over and over to stir up his nerves. Sonic's eyes snapped open, seeing all of his friends in his room staring at him with concern.

He didn't know what to say, he just glanced between them while panting like a dog.

"Finally." Knuckles let go of his shoulders and stood up from the bed. "Now why were you screaming bloody murder?" He asked roughly. Amy punched his arm, making the red echidna yelp and glower at her. The pink hedgehog stepped around the bed and knelt down beside Sonic's laying form.

"Pay no mind to him. But," She frowned. "Why were you screaming like that?"

Tails managed to squeeze himself through the crowd and sit at the foot of Sonic's white bed. "You screamed for almost thirty minutes straight." He said worriedly. "You fell out of your bed, slammed on the walls, ripped the sheets off and just kept yelling for help."

Shadow stood beside the door way of the bedroom, staring at Sonic. He didn't make a peep, but his expression told a different story. He looked like he wanted to ask so many questions that were similar to everyone else's. Was he okay, and why he screamed like that. Rouge looked the same. She didn't say anything, but her face said it all. She was standing by the bed as well, crossing her arms below her breasts.

"I-I just-" Sonic tried to say. But, nothing else came out. He just placed both ungloved hands over his face and sucked in a deep breath.

"Um, guys?" Tails glanced at the others in the room. "Can I, you know, talk to Sonic alone? Just for a sec?" He asked nicely, yet timidly. Something in his voice sounded like he was more than just worried about Sonic. It almost sounded like he wanted to cry. Amy was about to protest abruptly, until she saw the look in his baby blue eyes. They were big and wide, glossy and shaky. She knew that look all too well. She closed her mouth and looked away. She nodded, accepting his request and made her way to leave first. Rouge gestured to Shadow and Knuckles for them to leave, and the three of them all stepped out of his room.

The fox scooted himself up closer to Sonic's side and puts his hands in his lap. He looked up at his older brother, who seemed very stressed and scared. He frowned. He hated to see him look like this. This wasn't normal for him to be like this. Eggman rarely ever made him truly upset, but Scourge...Whatever he did to him, it was mentally scarring him. "Uh, hey Sonic." He quietly greeted. The blue hedgehog raised his face from his hands and looked over down at his little brother. Seeing him look up at him with those big eyes, it reminded him of the old days. Man, how many years was that? He felt so old all of a sudden.

He felt nostalgia warming up in his heart, and his charming smile grew back on his muzzle quickly.

That smile..

That was the smile he recognized. That familiar tender-feeling smile that always made him happy. Seeing Sonic happy made him happy. Seeing him so confident and fearless against everything, made him feel like his courage was unlimited. If he was okay, Tails was okay. That smile, was always a sign that everything was alright. He was so glad that he was his big brother, and that he had such a great person to look after him in his life.

With that, he had no doubt in his mind that this was the real Sonic. For sure.

"You screaming like that had me really worried. You okay now?" The vulpine asked. Sonic exhaled heavily and closed his eyes before looking at the closed door across the room.

"I..." He started, but didn't finish again. "Wait," Sonic briefly looked over at the fox. "You do know it's me, right?" He clarified.

Tails made a rather, sheepish laugh. "Eheheh, yeah, don't worry. I know it's you." He lightly punched Sonic in the arm. "That guy couldn't fool me. I caught on way too quickly. I know you better than anyone else, after all." The preteen scratched behind his head. "I was pretty lucky Shadow and Rouge listened in on our confrontation, but I already planned to call them. I knew something was up, that's why I got back up." He proudly smiled at his older brother, taking pride on taking his advice. "I did exactly what you said! I followed my gut, and it was right the whole time! I knew I wasn't crazy."

"That's my lil' bro." Sonic praised with a light noogie. Tails giggled and playfully pushed his brother away, lightly blushing at the compliment. Sonic was proud of him as well, and was more than happy to know that he caught onto what Scourge's plan was. If he didn't realize it until later, he would have gotten hurt. That meant he raised him right. He pulled the preteen a little closer and ruffled the top of his head. "Thank Chaos.." Sonic murmured. Tails heard him clearly, however.

"You were worried too?" Tails wondered aloud.

"Of course I was, ya dummy!" The hero playfully bonked the fox on the head. "I'm your big brother, of course I was worried about ya!" His smile then melted into a frown, instantly. An angry one, rather. "Geez, you almost got yourself killed!" He said roughly as he raised his voice. "Your damn plane exploded again, with you in it! _Again._ If it wasn't for Knuckles, I would have-! Ugh!" Sonic scoffed and face palmed. Tails' ears flattened at his tone. "You already saw how I was. I was in that...I was that thing. I could have killed you myself." He solemnly admitted. "If I would have known that I hurt you again, because of him," He grit his teeth in anger. "I already broke our promise. And, I'm sorry." Sonic's voice lowered eventually. He pat the little one on the head, who looked down in his lap. "Don't think I'm not proud of you, cause I am. I really am. If it wasn't for you, well, everything would be pretty crappy." He tried to joke around to cheer him up. "But, please, try not to do anything that stupid again. I'm not gonna patronize you, I'm not gonna act like a worry-wort. I know you're more than capable of handling yourself, but when it comes to him," Sonic made a very serious expression, the kind a parent would give when talking about a bad stranger. "You stay away from him." Then he smiled a little. "Sorry for snappin' on you there. No hard feelings. Okay?"

"Yeah." Tails nodded in an understanding manner. "I did act kinda stupid, huh?"

"Yeaahhh ya kinda did, squirt." The hedgehog leaned his head on top of the little one's. "But honestly, I think I would have too if I were in your shoes."

"I'm still glad you're okay. B..Because-" The fox suddenly whimpered at the very end of his sentence. He tried to keep smiling, but it was shaking. It wasn't sturdy at all. Sonic looked at his face puzzled, watching as his blue sapphire eyes were turning glossy pretty fast. His little body started to shiver, and he started sniffing. _Oh boy_ , he thought. Here it comes. The waterworks were about to break, and the dam was nearly collapsing. "All this time, I-I wondered," Tails squeezed his eyes shut and threw himself at his older brother. Sonic made a surprised yelp. The fox tightly wrapped his arms around him, and cried against his peach chest. "Where did you go!?" He sobbed quietly. With a small sigh, the elder lowered his eyes at him with a smile. He wrapped one arm around Tails' torso, and let him cry against him as he looked somewhere else. He caressed and rubbed his head, trying to soothe and console him.

He was humming as he cried, like he used to when they were kids. He'd always do that when Tails cried. It usually put him to sleep. Probably wouldn't work this time though.

For the love of Chaos, Tails knew that was his weakness. He hated when he cried like this. What could he say? 'Sorry' with a vague explanation of where he went and why? That was his initial plan at first but, hearing him get so upset...An apology and a weak elaboration wouldn't be enough for the little guy. He'd find a better way to make it up to him.

For now, he'd do his job as his brother and guardian.

Being there for him.

* * *

 **END - 6**

 **Please Review, thank you.**


	7. Enslavement

**7 - Enslavement**

* * *

 _ **\- One week after Scourge's appearance.**_

Days went by very slowly. It was so funny how when Sonic wasn't up and running around, things moved way too steadily. Needless to say, Sonic was practically depressed after having to spend a week in bed all day, everyday. His body was always on fire, hot as the planet's core. Always sweating, always tired, always in pain. It seemed like it never ended. The only time his body gave him a break, was when he woke up from being in deep sleeps. Yeah when Sonic actually went to sleep, he didn't just take naps or even healthy hours of slumber. No, he'd sleep for almost entire days, and would only be awake for maybe one or two hours. Tails obviously became increasingly worried about him as each day passed. As the others left to their own homes, Shadow was the only one who constantly kept visiting.

He checked his chaos energy, checked to see if he was physically capable of just sitting up. He even helped Tails take care of Sonic for a while, before returning to either GUN or his own home. Tails asked why the ebony hedgehog would do such nice deeds, saying how it wasn't really in his nature to care about Sonic this much at all. Nor his responsibility. Then, he remembered what Sonic told him, how he and Shadow were actually good friends. Shadow responded that GUN was breathing down his neck to make sure Sonic was okay. Mobius couldn't have their hero dying, or else they'd probably riot. For some reason, Tails didn't believe Shadow's excuse.

Maybe he just checked up on Sonic cause, he _wanted_ to.

Anyway, after one week, it was like Sonic was all better. He just woke up that morning feeling awesome again. But even more than awesome, he felt fantastic! Like him reverting from his Super form, he felt like a million bucks. His body no longer was aching. He wasn't sweating, he didn't scream in his sleep, no headaches nothing at all! Even his legs felt okay. And the scar that was left from the burns was disappearing. He assumed being in the Dark super form must have helped him regenerate faster. And he never felt bad after powering down from it. His chaos flow was drifting through his body like smooth honey now.

So with that, he happily hopped out of his bed and looked for garments to put on his feet. Ah, but he wouldn't put on his regular ones, he'd be putting on his Hi-speed shoes on today. He needed to discuss things with Shadow as soon as he would come over. He smiled to himself. So nice of Shadow to visit him so much. He didn't use to do that, at least not that often. In fact, they usually visited discreetly. Then he grinned. He was really starting to warm up to him now.

Sonic climbed himself out of the window, not bothering to leave the house the normal, civilized way. After all, Tails would scold him for not staying in bed if he saw him trying to leave. Sonic stood crouched on the window's ledge, looking up at the shining sun with a smile. Yeah. He was ready. He jumped down from the window into the outside world of Mobius.

He was himself again.

* * *

"What do you mean he's not here?" Shadow blinked.

"Just what I said." Tails blinked back with a shrug. "He's not here." The vulpine casually said as he tinkered with a mechanical part of his plane. Why'd did he seem so nonchalant about this?

"You're..not going to go after him?" It was less of a question, and more of an observation.

Tails shook his head, wiping the sweat and oil from his forehead. "Usually if Sonic's been out of commission for a while, but then suddenly disappears from his bed, that means he's all better." As he picked up one of his complicated looking tools, he looked down at his little project and examined it thoroughly. Shadow glazed over the part of the plane that he was trying to repair. He then glanced back at the preteen and crossed his arms. "He knows I'll nag him to get back to bed and rest, so to avoid it, he leaves. I don't bother trying to go after him. He'll just come back later anyway."

"That sounds like a negligent father."

"Heh. More like a father who runs away from his problems. Err...Brother."

"How ironic." Shadow should have known that fool would run out the second he felt better.

"But in all seriousness, it's not that he doesn't want to deal with it, or me." The fox added as he scratched at his head from glaring holes into the plane piece. "For the most part, he just wants to go outside and run. Being still drives Sonic nuts, after all."

"I can imagine." The ultimate life form sighed while closing his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know where he is, do you?"

"Well, his favorite place to go is the meadow, nearby the crash site. You know, where you and Scourge fought."

"I'll retrieve him for you." He said as he turned and walked towards to the entrance of the house. Tails looked up from his tinkering and curiously looked in the direction of Shadow. He slightly tilted his head.

"Huh? I mean, thanks but, why?"

The hedgehog pulled the door open and took one step out. "Since he's recovered, we need to discuss some things about this Anti-Sonic."

"Ahh. I gotcha. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, please. He _just_ recovered." Tails asked as he looked back down at the damaged part. He stuck his tongue out and made a difficult expression as he tried pulling something out of it with a tool.

"Of course." With that, the hedgehog pulled the door closed and stepped away from the quaint looking house. He got in position to sprint, and took off in a gust of wind. Tails stared at the window that led outside of his home. He felt a little worried, knowing that psychopath could still be out there roaming Mobius. But, something told him he wouldn't be back for a while. He hoped that it'd stay that way until they came up with a plan.

But with Shadow being an ally and his big bro back at his side, he felt a bit braver.

* * *

As he traveled through the large forest, he realized just how much damaged they caused. Thanks to their fighting, trees were toppled or just plain burnt stumps. The grass was either burned from chaos energy or their sheer speed of sprinting to and fro around the area. Cracks lied in the ground from where people fell and made painful impacts. The area itself even felt a little hot still. Chaos energy was still faint here. That itself showed how powerful Scourge and Dark Sonic were. But, that was in the past now. Next time, he wouldn't get off so easily. If it wasn't for Dark, he could have killed the bastard right here. Shadow sighed heavily to himself.

Where _was_ that faker anyway? Tails said where the meadow was.

That's when he saw the small opening in the midst of the damaged trees. He was so dead-set on chasing Scourge, he must not have noticed where exactly he was skating to. That place, was the exact same place he chased him in. He traveled inside of the small space, and came upon a tiny clearing. This meadow was so small. A little larger than Tails' house. He looked over the area, seeing just how beautiful and magnificent it was. Even with the damage done by their power. Those poor woodland creatures that Scourge scared off were frolicking around. Deer, small birds, butterflies..It was amazing. Maria said that if she could visit one place on Earth, it would definitely be a place like this. Where life just flourished, with never ending beauty.

Usually, fascinating nature such as this didn't interest him. But this time, he'd cherish this experience for her.

As he walked deeper into the meadow, he stepped over some of the small creatures, and glanced around for Sonic. And soon, he found whom he was looking for. The blue hedgehog was surrounded by those animals. It was no wonder he couldn't spot him at first. He was petting one of the deer that was craning it's neck against him. He was sitting on the soft grass, smiling and lightly laughing as the critters snuggled up to him.

The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes. He never saw someone have such strong attraction with animals. No pun intended. They were practically magnetizing towards him. Huddled to him like he was the Prince of the Forest. He carefully got up so he wouldn't disturb or frighten anyone with sudden movements. He patted the deer's head softly, before stepping away from it. He realized that Shadow was standing right in front of them, watching with an intrigued expression.

"Amazing." He said to no one out loud. Then, he looked a little closer, and realized just how Sonic was able to attract these animals. He saw a faint cloud of chaos energy engulfed in the entire meadow. It was a light blue, representing Sonic's persona. But then, it began to change into different brighter colors, and some of it was dark. Why was that? That wasn't completely Sonic's energy. It was as if it was fused with something, or someone else's. Well, whatever it was, it had mostly peaceful and wonderful wavelengths. No wonder they were attracted to him. But, it seemed like it wasn't in control. Was Sonic accidentally letting out this energy? Questions for later, he supposed. "Faker, your sibling wants you home."

"Don't worry, I'll be back there soon." He waved politely before grabbing hold of something on his shoulder. He cupped it into his hands, and walked over to Shadow. He started to invade his personal space. The fellow hedgehog flinched and stiffened his body instantly. Sonic just smiled at his reaction, and looked down at his cupped hands. "Hold out your hands, Shadow." He asked delicately. With an unsure expression, Shadow did as he was told, and held out one hand. This made the hero chuckle. "Both hands, ya dummy."

With a slightly annoyed grunt, Shadow held out both of his hands. Sonic gently rested his hands inside of Shadow's palms, placing something inside before slowly uncovering what he gave him. The hedgehog felt something warm. Something puny and fragile. He looked inside of his hands, and noticed that Sonic put a baby bird in his hands. He blinked several times at the creature in odd curiosity. Maria always talked about these, and Shadow always read up on other animals, but...He never thought he'd actually hold one before.

It was like, a tiny miracle.

"Ain't he cute?" Sonic beamed. He put his hand over the little bird's head and gently dusted off any unwanted dirt that might have gathered. "Found the little guy wandering outside the forest just before I got here. I took him back here so he could be safe."

"..." Shadow didn't utter a word. Sonic became a bit muddled by his silence.

"Hey, somethin' up?"

"I-" Shadow cut himself off. He just awkwardly held the small creature and looked somewhere else. "Nothing."

That was just adorable. Sonic smirked to himself, but tried to make it seem more like a smile so Shadow wouldn't notice and get even more annoyed. He pointed upwards at a tree. "Well, I wanted to talk to you before goin' back home. So, come on. We can sit up on one of the branches here."

* * *

"You should be in bed, faker." Shadow mentioned as he comfortably sat on the tree branch with his legs and arms crossed, his eyes closed with the small bird perched on his shoulder. Sonic leaned back against his hands as they sat on the bark. He looked up at the sky, where the trees failed to hide the elegant sunlight shining down upon them.

"Don't need to. I feel great." He said in a long relaxed sigh. He closed his eyes as well, smiling as he felt the breeze hit his fur. Shadow opened one eye at the other, and almost had to do a double-take at his appearance. Butterflies were starting to surround them, and the light that shined down on them above, made it seem like an angelic spotlight was shimmering on Sonic. He watched him slowly open his emerald eyes back to the world, and glance at the wild insects that fluttered around him. He held up his hand, and allowed one to land right on is finger tip. His smile only became bigger, more natural as he watched the creatures happily soar over them both.

He was...

 _...Beautiful._ Shadow thought to himself. He was like, some kind of deity, or an angel sent from the great beyond.

Damn it, what the hell was he thinking?! He shouldn't be thinking that way at all, that was complete unnecessary nonsense at a time like this. No. Now was the time for information, not gawking-

"I think they like you too, Shads." Sonic grinned as the butterflies fluttered to Shadow's face, while one carefully placed itself on his nose. He opened both his eyes at this and cringed at the feeling. He quickly shooed the insects away by rapidly waving his hand back and forth at them. They flew away, and Sonic laughed. The bird resting on Shadow's shoulder just fell asleep, unaware of the ultimate life form's sudden uneasiness. Shadow made a rather stoic expression and just glared at nothing. "Lighten up!" Sonic giggled. The other just said nothing for a minute before starting up a rather serious conversation.

"..Are you alright?" He suddenly asked quietly. This halted Sonic's small laughs automatically. He frowned and looked in the same direction as Shadow, straight ahead at nothing.

"Yeah. 'Course I am." Sonic tried cocking another smile. "A bit of a surprise to see that you care about me."

"I can be concerned about whatever I want."

The blue Mobian turned and tilted his head at him. "Aaawww-"

"Quiet."

"Pfft."

"Anyway," Shadow changed the subject quickly, getting off topic of what he was leading up to. " _He_ did something. Did you tell your sibling about what he did to you?"

"You mean.." Sonic sighed and looked straight once again. "Scourge. Yeah, no. He's just a kid. He doesn't need to know exactly what he did to me." He rubbed the back of his neck and blew out some air. "I couldn't tell him just nothing, though. I just vaguely told him that I got scratched up a little." He looked down at his own legs that dangled over the tree branch. "Then he asked about the scar."

"That electrical burn wound." Shadow summed up. He glanced at Sonic before looking away again. "Is it healed?"

"Yeah. Not sore, either. I just told him it was an accident. He didn't believe it. But, the scar's starting to go away too, thanks to all the chaos power. I figured out how to use it whenever I want like you."

"You have a chaos emerald?" Shadow questioned curiously. Sonic shook his head.

"Nope! For now, I don't need one to access them."

"Impossible." The red eyed hedgehog immediately retorted. The blue one shook his head again.

"Nah nah, seriously. It's a long story but, let's just say I went somewhere that allowed me to be able to do that. Temporarily."

"Hmph." Shadow just leaned his elbow on his leg and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. That must be how he transformed into a dark super form so easily. "Though, I must commend you for your power. You displayed a vigorous amount of chaos. It's definitely matured over the years, I see."

Sonic rubbed his finger under his nose with a prideful smirk. "Thank you, thank you. You weren't half-bad yourself, buddy." He turned to Shadow, moving his legs a bit to get in a better position. "You fought both me and Scourge like a maniac! And you came up with some pretty good moves. Gotta say, you're crazy strong Shadow." He greatly complimented. Shadow made a small smile and shrugged a little.

"Hm. I suppose." He humbly admitted. "If I may ask," He began earnestly. "Could you perhaps tell me what he did instead?"

The hero nodded and fidgeted a bit. "I trust you." He said. "More than Knuckles because, if I told him, he'd blow a gasket. And, you'd take this seriously more than anyone else." He also felt more closer to Shadow than any of his other friends besides Tails. He didn't know why. "Just, promise not to tell a soul. Not Tails, Rouge, especially not Amy. No one."

Shadow silently nodded, agreeing to his conditions without words. With that, Sonic exhaled heavily. He put his hands folded in between his legs and leaned forward. His face was drained of all the happiness he gathered today. It was sad just how fast he became so emotionless over the topic. "He...captured me on my home island. That's the place I was supposed to be relaxing at. His girlfriend drugged me, and knocked me out. Next thing I know, I'm wakin' up in some truck, being tossed and dragged on the ground to their base like some sack of potatoes." He tightly held his hands together, his frown becoming deeper. "I managed to fight 'em off, but, I accidentally hurt his girlfriend. I hurt her bad."

"She was the enemy, wasn't she?" The dark hedgehog commented.

"I mean yeah, but, I knew her before all this. She was a good person and, we kinda had a thing for a while. In fact, she cheated on me with him, and hit Tails." His tone sounded like he involuntarily opened past wounds. That was probably one of the bad experiences Rouge was talking about. Shadow then figured it was best to keep quiet again for now. "Anyway, I knocked her out. She was bleeding. And right when I tried getting her to wake up, things just went from bad to worse. Scourge appeared and saw how bad I hurt her. He got pissed and, well, let's just say in a physical fight, I was no match for him. His power was a hundred times stronger than the last time I fought him. I was down by the time I blinked. So," Sonic sighed before continuing again. "He took me to his castle-"

"Wait, he's really a-"

"-Royal prince? Yeah. I didn't believe it either. I think that's why he does that 'regal personality' crap. Then again, he's kind of a king now since his dad's gone." His tone seemed to grow suspicious with each word. "Anyway, he took me to his castle, he took me to some weird room. It was meant for torture. He even had tools at the ready to use on me. There was a metal chair connected to electricity, and...Well, since I wasn't cooperating, that's how I got this." Sonic pointed down to his lap, and spread his legs open a bit more so that Shadow could see the wound in its entirety. Between his thighs, it was even worse. It was a good thing it was healing quickly. Then, Shadow realized he was looking directly in his crotch. He turned his eyes away quickly and cleared his throat. Sonic paused for a second, before he noticed just exactly what made Shadow look away. He just chuckled to himself and closed his legs. "He shocked me to make me vulnerable. Then, he used his new power to get into my head."

"...What?" Shadow bluntly said. Sonic just sheepishly grinned.

"Like I said, super long story. I'll explain it better later, but basically, it's where my vacation spot was. This year, I was supposed to leave this month to my home island to get a new ability. But, Scourge did the same thing, and got power from his own home in Moebius. Probably found it hidden somewhere in his castle. And that power, was to be able to rip and steal powers from others."

Shadow just stared at Sonic with wide eyes. "You can't be serious."

Sonic respired sadly. "Unfortunately, I am. Since I wouldn't give in, he forced himself in my head so he could steal one of them. But, he confronted the worse of them all." The blue hedgehog gripped his fingers into the tree bark. "I don't have just one form, Shadow. I have four in all. But two of them are dangerous. You saw one of them, Dark. But the other, he's a thousand times worse. Scourge managed to activate him, and they made a deal." He held up his hand and allowed a bright scarlet butterfly to land onto his finger tip. It's wings were the color of bright blood. It signified _him_ perfectly. "If Scourge succeeds in conquering both our worlds, he would use him as a host instead of me, being more worthy. He gave him one of his powers as a test drive, to see how much 'misery' he'd cause with just that. And that's why he can make people see things that aren't there." He brought one of his hands up to his face and dragged it down, while the other hand just laid against his leg. The butterfly continued to sit on his finger, resting against it. "I'm the reason why he has that power. It's...All my fault.." He angrily whispered with clenched teeth. "Why those people got hurt, why you guys got tricked. It was all me."

The ebony hedgehog watched as Sonic gripped the fur on his own head. He looked livid, which was not usual for someone like him. He was never known to lose his temper, or get easily upset. He was always one step ahead of anyone, always with a smart remark or quip. A simple joke to easily cover up his true emotions, and he would say it with a smile. But, not this time. "You blame yourself?"

"Of course I do." He growled. "If it wasn't for me, Scourge wouldn't even exist." To Shadow, even though that personal insult wasn't directed at him at all, he felt that was a low blow to Sonic himself. It was hurtful, and he could feel it. After hearing no other response from Shadow, he continued. "He tortured me without even having to touch me. He made me see so many terrible things. I was exhausted, I thought I was in pain when I really wasn't. I was tired and starving, he tortured me for almost an entire day, even though it felt like months. No breaks, nothing. Just straight torture. I couldn't take it anymore." He said desperately. "Then, he threatened to kill everyone in our world if I didn't let him do what he wanted. He was serious this time. And I knew someone as crazy as him would actually do it. So, I..I gave up."

Now that was definitely something the hero of Mobius wouldn't say.

"I said I'd let him get what he wanted, as long as he didn't kill anyone. Guess he kinda held up his promise, because he _almost_ killed Tails, and hurt both you and Knux pretty badly." He made a pitiful smile and laughed lightly. "At least, you were all still alive."

The ultimate life form still kept his mouth shut, quietly watching the blue hedgehog next to him crumble.

"He forced out my Dark form, and made me lose my damn mind..."

* * *

 _He made a large gasp, breathing excessively. His eyes bugged out of their sockets, and his nerves were rattling. His body was shaking tremendeously, and he couldn't keep still. He couldn't calm down, he couldn't stop panting. His heart was going at least hundreds of miles a minute. He looked around in a panic, wondering just where in the hell he was. The lights were off. He must have accidentally busted them when he transformed. It was that same torture room. The one that said 'HOME SWEET HOME'. He was still trapped here, damn it!_

 _He hunched over and nearly puked up his insides. Being forced out, it was just terrible. It felt like someone was ripping off their own skin, and vomiting themselves back out. He threw his hands up to his head and his ears flattened. His eyes and head twitched as he slowly and painfully lifted up his head to look in front of him. He let one of his hands fall limp and sit on his lap, while the other still gripped the side of his head. He felt the darkness flowing inside of him. And he didn't feel like himself. Scourge really did it. He forced him into his Dark form. His now dark and sickly green eye glared in front of him._

 _His evil eyes glowed in the darkness, making the green hedgehog fanboy his heart out._

 _"Like_ oh my God _!" He squealed, like a girl finding a sale on new boots. He danced his feet back and forth with a cat-like smile on his face. If it were possible, hearts could be seen swirling around him. "Dark Sonickuu~! You're so so soooo cool! I'm like, totes a big fan!" He chirped gleefully. "I just wanna hug you, and squeeze you and just slam your ass right into that bed!"_

 _In a literal dark blue flash, Scourge found himself rammed right into the wall. His eyes were wide in shock. The dark hedgehog above him was pinning his hand back onto the wall behind him. A large crack was forming on it, and his head was hurting. He looked down, carefully without moving a muscle, and saw that the other had his hand down onto his abdomen. Right on his scar. It was charging with chaos power, but it was so dreadfully negative, he could feel himself wanting to pass out from just touching it. He smirked. Damn this was fuckin' hot._

 _And the look on Blue's face...Ohh boy._

 _"You fucking piece of shit!" He snarled at him. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" He constantly yelled._

 _Scourge's body stiffened when he felt the power burn into his stomach. He bit his lip, but still kept his eyes on Dark Sonic. Looking straight into his face, he said only one thing._

 _"Could you maybe, get off me please?"_

 _Red swirled eyes appeared in Dark's irises. He suddenly dropped Scourge and stepped away from him. The green hedgehog dusted himself off and fixed his jacket. Dark Sonic shook his head back and forth rapidly, snapping himself out of it. He grunted, before sprinting to rush at Scourge once again. An ominous red glint appeared in his anti-self's eye, and he suddenly found himself standing still. He blankly stared at him again, Scourge's control easily taking over him._

 _"Hey Blue..." He made a small smile. "You're my toy now. You_ love _me."_

NO! _Sonic screamed to himself._ Absolutely not! I refuse! _He was fighting it with everything he had, both himself and Dark._

 _"Nothing else matters. I'm all that matters. Your friends and family? They're no one, nothing. It's just me."_

I have to love- _No._ Love him- _No! That wasn't him at all!_ He's all that matters. _He thought as he spaced out. His eyes were empty, his mind was blank. He only thought of one thing. The very thing he forced himself not to think. That he was Scourge's, now. Yes...He was his. All his. All he had to do was forget about everyone and everything he's ever known, and give it all to him. His mind, body, and soul._

 _He accepted him._

 _Even if his mind was screaming at him to stop himself form letting him take him._

 _But he didn't care, because at the same time, it was telling him to let himself be taken away._

 _Why not?_

 _He felt himself slowly smiling. "Y-Yes.." He whispered. "I've been..s-such a disobedient slave. Punish me however you want." His mouth involuntarily began salivating. His cheeks were red, and his eyes were completely brain dead. He was stuttering in his words, like he wasn't supposed to be saying these things. Well, he wasn't. After all, he was brainwashed._

 _To this, Scourge almost hopped up and down in joy. He was ecstatic! To think he had Mobius' only hope in the palm of his hands, ready to submit at any time he wanted! Shit, this day couldn't possibly get any better._

 _Scourge gladly pulled the former hero over by the forearm, and reached his other hand behind his back. He reached down and touched against his backside, and groped his bottom. A small gasp came out of his mouth, making Scourge smirk. Damn. From afar he didn't realize it, but Sonic really did have a nice ass. He rubbed his palm against it, before cupping it again. Tighter this time, squeezing it harshly. The dark hedgehog closed his eyes shut and moaned this time. Ohoho, he was gonna have a damn good time with him._

* * *

 _Several days later, he became his pet. He ordered him around, treated him like a mere servant. He kept Sonic trapped in the torture room, and would only let him leave if Scourge needed him. Sometimes he made him follow him like a puppy dog, and even made him act like some kind of maid. Whenever he'd eat, he'd have him pour his beverages. He would have him serve him meals privately. Sometimes he would have him escorted to his own personal bedroom, and make him do_ whatever _he wanted him to do. They never went into intercourse. When Dark questioned this, Scourge only replied that he didn't want to take 'it' yet. He already figured Sonic was a virgin since they're complete opposites, and he guessed correctly. He said he didn't want to take it until he conquered everything._

 _Everyone who had joined Scourge's league, all paid respects whenever he and Sonic would walk together._

 _However, not everyone tolerated Sonic's presence._

 _Fiona, she was not okay with this at all. She was furious. Scourge never said he'd have Sonic in such a...'submissive' state. She caught them walking through one of the corridor's of the building, and confronted them. Right as they were, 'conversing'. It was more like Scourge was talking to a brick wall._

 _"Ehh, the black polish is Fiona's fault." Scourge said coolly. "She painted my nails as a prank while I was sleeping in one morning. I woke up, saw 'em, and I thought they seemed cool. At least it wasn't pink. So I just went along with it. I mean, bad guys from anime wear it so-"_

 _Fiona immediately interrupted._

 _"W-What the hell is this!?" The red fox demanded while sharply pointing at Dark Sonic, who merely stood next to Scourge with a bored glare in his eyes. The green hedgehog just blinked and tilted his head._

 _"Eh? What is what?"_

 _"Don't pull that shit with me!" She scoffed. "This!" She gestured to Sonic once again. "Why are you parading him around like this? Like some kind of sex-slave, or something?!"  
_

 _"Cause I can..?" He trailed off questionably while lightly scratching his head._

 _"Yeah? Well I had no idea you played on a different team." Fiona narrowed her eyes dangerously and scowled. "Could have least told me!"_

 _"Fi, I never said I wasn't into guys." Scourge shrugged. "You just never noticed it. Or asked."_

 _The girl just started to shake her head, bewildered at such a response. "I shouldn't have to, asshole, you should have told me upfront!"_

 _"Well now you know, and knowing is half the battle." The anti-Sonic held out his arm and used it to wrap it around Dark Sonic's shoulder. He pulled him very close, his cheek pressing against the other's. He grinned happily, while the other hedgehog just stared at nothing. "Ain't he cool? Guess you could say I_ do _have a thing for him. I see why you still have a crush on him." He put a little space between them and put his hands up to Sonic's muzzle. He grasped his face and lightly shook it. "I mean, just look at him! He can be a weapon. With him, I'll destroy his world in no time!" He maliciously grinned, his sharp fangs poking out of his mouth. He giggled to himself with an eerie voice, that didn't sound anywhere near normal. "I've become obsessed with Blue, lately. He's got so much potential to be evil, and yet he just won't succumb to it! Not willingly, anyway. He's one big fuckin' cock tease to the dark side, and I think that's just hot. Kinda why I got attracted to you. But that's officially over and done with, babe." He slyly glanced at her.  
_

 _"After everything I've done for you? Scourge.." The female vixen grit her teeth and balled her hands into fists. She prepared herself to charge towards him. Even with the wound on her head thanks to Sonic's little stunt earlier, she didn't care. She was beyond pissed. "You dirty, cheating son of a-"_

 _"If you got a problem with it," Her now ex-boyfriend started. "You can be a mind-slave too." He looked directly into her blue eyes, and pointed his index finger at her head. Her expression became frightened almost immediately. She tried taking one step back, but it was too late. His eyes glinted red, and soon, so did hers. Her eyes became a red vortex, and she was now under his control. Her body became limp, she was no more. "Such a hypocrite. Like_ your _slate's perfectly clean. You will accept anything I do or say. You obey me, and you will always protect me, no matter what. You will help me achieve anything I want. You're mine, Fiona."_

 _That strong, independent girl was no more._

 _"In fact, do me a little favor, baby." He stepped away from Dark Sonic and put his hand on her shoulder. He looked her in the eyes one more time, ensuring his power over her. She looked attentively, not dare uttering a word to him. "I don't really need you anymore, now do I?" He asked aloud to no one. "So you know what you should do?" He quickly glanced to the side, eyeing by the hallway's corridor. Since this was a castle, there were plenty of large stained glass windows. There were some right in this hallway. He stared back at Fiona and smiled. "Hey Fiona, die for me." He asked._

 _Right after he uttered those words, Scourge felt his control of Dark Sonic falter. He turned around only to see that Sonic had snapped out of it, and was now in his normal figure. How in the world did he break his control? "What?!" He yelled. "You can't make her do that!"_

 _"God damn you Blue, your mind must be hellah strong. Doesn't matter though, you'll be back in a sec-Ghhgh! What the hell are you doing!?" He scowled as Sonic weakly grabbed his forearm. He assumed he was still trying to fight his control, which was why he couldn't move that much._

 _"Y-You can't do that! I won't let you!" He exclaimed. "She may hate me, but I don't care! She's still a living Mobian! Don't kill her and toss her away like trash!" He furrowed his brows, his green eyes glinting red every so often as still tried to fight it. "Come on! Don't you love her?"_

 _"Hell no! Not anymore. As time passed, I finally realized that she's still just in love with you, just like everybody else. She only saw you in me, and that's only_ one _reason why I still hate you!" Scourge squinted his eyes dangerously at the fellow hedgehog, but his glower was soon interrupted when he felt Fiona walk away from him. He turned and watched as she waltzed towards one of the stain glass windows. She was gonna try to jump out. All she had to do next was shatter it and take one step too far-_

 _"No! Make her stop! Now!" Sonic pulled onto Scourge's arm harder, his face nothing but determined. "I-I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt her too!" He begged._

 _Seeing his desperate face was so cute. The sorrow and emotion in his voice that seemed void of all hope. He loved every second of it. He sighed to himself, while still keeping his eye on Fiona, who was right about to bust that window with her own bare fist. It's not like she wasn't useful, he just didn't need her anymore...Then again, if things wouldn't go according to plan, he may still need her. Damn. "Fine." Scourge rolled his blue eyes. "She'll live. Hey! Babe, get back here. Apparently you're still needed here."_

 _The red fox paused her movements, before turning almost unwittingly and moving back towards the hedgehogs. To this, Sonic sighed and made a small smile of relief. At least he saved one person today._

 _"Alright, now back under my control." His now red swirling eyes demanded. Sonic couldn't look away, he was brainwashed once again. His fur faded into that same dark color, and his quills returned to their upright positions. He stared blankly into nothing, just like he was supposed to. Scourge just scoffed. "And don't think you'll be able to save someone like that again."_

 _He was right. That was far too close._

 _Next time, he wouldn't be so merciful._

* * *

 **END - 7**

 **If it wasn't obvious, I will not mention or introduce any other characters or anti-characters from the comics. Everyone whom I've already mentioned will be the only ones who will appear in this story. I also tweaked the history of anti-Mobius as well, to make it seem like characters such as Sally Acorn or Alicia Acorn never existed. Thus making Scourge's father, who was obviously someone of power in the comics, become a king instead, making Scourge an actual prince. Or at least, that's how I envision it. If I mentioned anyone like Alicia, then I'd have to put Sally somewhere in the story as well. So the entire group of Freedom Fighters and the Suppression Squad never existed here. So if you're wondering why the information Sonic tells in the story seems wrong, it's because I changed it to match my own ideas. As said before, I'm not strictly going by the comics OR the games' story lines. And this is also why I only mention very few locations from the comics as well, because I _do_ want the story to take place in Mobius, since that's the only way Scourge could exist with an anti-Mobius. (Along with another character in another dimension from the comics as well, but you'll see them soon. Don't wanna spoil it.) But I want mostly the games' history to influence the story here, while most of Scourge's history in the comics have been and will be severely altered in my vision. Plus, Scourge's personality will be even more over the top in order to match my ideas.**

 **Scourge and Sonic are supposed to be opposites. However, the comics mostly make the anti-doubles over exaggerated of their original characters' bad personality traits.** **My plan for this story was to go even bigger than that. Why just make the anti-doubles simple exaggerations? Why not go even further, and make the star of the anti-world even more intimidating? Why not make him the EXACT opposite of Sonic, instead of just a few typical bad-guy differences? Why not make it ALL different? And with that, why not create the absolute worst villain Sonic ever encountered?**

 **Why not make a better, and badder anti-Sonic?**

 **While I love the concept of an evil Sonic, I hate how tame he is. I mean sure, the dude did some bad things but, they weren't as bad as they should have been. Scourge was supposed to be the version of a Sonic who went down a terrible road. A Sonic gone wrong, in other words. And yet, he isn't as evil as I would like him to be. I mean, (comic spoilers) the guy goes full bitch-mode when he gets arrested in no zone just cause he's powerless. That was probably the most irritating comic to read, EVER. I hated how much of a bitch Scourge became, but then suddenly became all big and bad when his girlfriend finally helped him out.**

 **No, that, was a disappointment. I wanted better than that. So why not create an eviler version myself? That's how this story came to be. Me just wanting to create a better anti-Sonic, who's more malicious and ingenious than you could ever imagine.**

 **So from now on, they'll be a little tiny bonus after every end of a chapter. I will name one or multiple differences between Scourge and Sonic that's been mentioned in a chapter. For now, we'll name all the differences pointed out so far. And that will conclude this long ass author's note. Sorry about that, by the way.**

1\. Scourge has _multiple permanent scars_. Sonic for the most part, doesn't.

2\. Scourge looked exactly like Sonic before his mutation, but is now physically the complete opposite. Green with blue eyes, with a tanner skin color and could be considered a little more muscular as well. He's also thought to have a raspier or deeper voice than Sonic, too.

3\. Sonic is a virgin, Scourge most definitely isn't, and is a man-whore.

4\. Scourge only has one super form. Sonic on the other hand...

5\. Scourge is a total masochist, and a complete sadist. He's a murderer, and has done almost any and every crime you can think of, and has been _apprehended_ more than once. Sonic isn't any of these.

6\. Scourge apparently _had_ a parent. Sonic doesn't have any blood relatives that he knows of.

7\. Scourge is _completely mental._ This will be explained more in later chapters, but it is known that he's not entirely sane like his prime counterpart.

8\. Scourge is of royal blood. He was a prince, and now a king due to his _father's absence_. Sonic is a normal everyday citizen.

9\. Because of the fact that Scourge seems to predict everything Sonic and his friends try to do, you could say _he is an analyzer._ Sonic isn't really at his level when it comes to that.

10\. Scourge doesn't value Mobian/Moebian life at all. Sonic dedicates himself to save lives.

11\. Scourge is both faster and stronger than Sonic.

12\. Light will be shed on this later, but it's been mentioned here that Scourge has a _horrid backstory._ Sonic had a some-what rough childhood since he had to fend for himself, but his life doesn't compare to Scourge's.

13\. It is inferred that Scourge _didn't gain his super speed naturally_ like Sonic, and may actually need his shoes to run fast.

14\. Sonic has romance trouble, while Scourge doesn't really care for it _anymore_.

15\. Scourge smokes and has tried doing other drugs before, while Sonic doesn't and never has or will.

16\. Scourge is _for some reason_ jealous of Sonic, while Sonic feels pity for Scourge.

 **That's everything so far. Please review, and have a nice day.**


	8. My Demons

**8 - My Demons**

* * *

The blue hedgehog had a hand half covering his face as he stared down at the tree bark he was currently sitting on. He looked so dour, with such a sullen expression. He felt horrible. All he could do was look away from Shadow. The red and black hedgehog stared at Sonic, it was like he could feel all of the shame spreading off of him. This Scourge guy, he was truly evil. Usually someone would use a term like that for Eggman but, no. This guy was levels of evil above Eggman. After all, Eggman never turned Sonic like this before. He never made him feel so depressed. Not like his anti-double did. He kinda felt bad for him. He was about to tell him, that he didn't have to say anymore, but he beat him to it.

The butterflies that scattered around them flew away, while the small bird from earlier continued to sleep onto Shadow's shoulder. The clouds shifted in the sky, covering up some of the sun. Shade loomed over them, and only small bits of sunshine passed through. Sonic sighed very heavily and rested his arms on his thighs.

"He forced me to do stuff that I'm not gonna go into. As long as it wasn't the _real deal,_ if you catch my drift. He wanted to take over everything first, before he'd take me. I'm sure you can figure it out. He made me enjoy it, even though I wanted to hate every second of it. That part in itself, was true torture." He angrily growled. "Of course, I'm not proud of it at all. It's embarrassing, it's killing me to tell you this."

Shadow tried to sympathize with him. "Then just stop, you don't have to-"

"I've already told you everything else, might as well finish it." Sonic replied stubbornly. "After that, he started making his plans. I honestly don't know what, because he didn't have me around when he was forming them. The only thing I know about, is when he started to disguise himself as me. Said somethin' like, 'this is only phase one.'" The hero put a hand on his cheek, with his elbow resting on his thigh. He closed his eyes, as he wished he could forget everything that happened to him. He remembered it all, and it was just so...He couldn't even describe in words how horrible he felt.

Shadow meanwhile, was basically appalled by all of this. How disturbing. It was extremely aggravating that Sonic was taken advantage of. Sure they may not have went 'all the way', but that didn't matter. He was still tortured, mentally and physically abused. He was touched, with the vile hands of that mucus-colored cur...Shadow couldn't even contain his anger. He was trying to stay calm and cool for Sonic's sake, but he couldn't help it. By the time he tried to turn the dial down on his rage, the entire tree they were sitting on was rumbling. The bird on his shoulder was startled.

The blue hedgehog blinked a couple times in shock at Shadow's sudden fury. The little bird fell off of his ebony shoulder, making Sonic yelp in fear for it's safety. He swiftly caught it in the palms of his hands, making sure the small creature wasn't hurt. He sighed in relief, and looked back up at Shadow. "Yo, Shads, calm down!" The leaves were rustling, and falling off of the giant plant like rain water. Animals that were nearby ran away, and Sonic almost dropped the poor thing from all the shaking. "This tree's gonna be bare before winter if you keep this up. Quit it!"

The ultimate life form scoffed and dug his fingers in the bark. He clenched his teeth and looked down. The red chaos energy that was starting to form around disappeared into the air, and his anger was beginning to subside. He silently exhaled and made a permanent frown. "Sorry." Was all he muttered. The blue one chuckled nervously.

"Geez buddy, what was all that about?"

"...Nothing." He mumbled.

Sonic felt that was a lie, he just didn't know what for. Then he figured it out and started to smile a bit. "That's pretty flattering, I gotta say." He said nicely as he placed the bird onto his own shoulder blade. The creature made tiny tweets and made itself comfortable.

"..." Shadow said nothing in return, as his eyes lowered. He seemed a little shy about something. This made Sonic laugh a little. "I just, hate that he did that to you."

The hero smirked. "But why? I thought the Ultimate Life Form didn't care about anybody?" He taunted playfully as he scooted himself over to nudge Shadow's arm. The ebony furred hedgehog sucked his teeth in exasperation and nudged back, harder.

"Shut up." He grumbled. "What he did to you was horrible, friend or not-"

"Aaawww! I'm your friend too, Shads? That's so sweet-"

"Shut your damn mouth!" He turned to Sonic and reached his hand up to his face. He pinched his black nose, making Sonic wince, accompanied with annoying whiny sounds.

"H-Hey! Stop! That's my freakin' nose!"

"I'll rip it the hell off if you don't zip your lips." He threatened with an agitated expression. "When someone's trying to give you sympathy, you take it, faker." He scolded. He snatched his hand away from Sonic's nose, and looked away with his normal stoic attitude. While Sonic rubbed his nose with a silly frown, he made a more serious tone. "I don't care what you think. I don't like what he did." He stared from afar, watching the animals below cautiously return to the area. "I'll make him pay, I can promise you that." With how quiet his voice was, it was like he was talking to himself.

Sonic made a bigger smile. "That's...really nice of you." He said with slightly rosy cheeks. "Thank you, Shadow." Right as he said that, his leg moved closer, and it rubbed against Shadow's. They both flinched and looked down at Sonic's limbs. The blue one began apologizing for invading his personal space. "Sorry, sorry. I'll move back over."

"No." Shadow glared at the wound on his legs, and looked to the side. "It's fine."

"Y..You sure? You usually hate when I'm too close."

"Well I don't mind anymore." He sounded more standoffish this time. Yet, his intentions were clearly the opposite. Sonic felt a little happy from this. So he moved himself just a little closer, his leg lying against Shadow's. Sitting close to each other, they watched as the clouds in the sky were banished away from the sun's rays. It appeared again, shining brightly over them both. "You tried your absolute best not to give in. If it wasn't for his threat, you would've died with that persistent attitude of yours." Shadow suddenly said. "Do not blame yourself for giving up. You had no choice but to give in. You wanted to do what you always do, protect everyone. Because of the kind of person you are, making that choice was second nature to you. If it's to save lives, you don't hesitate to make a big decision. You're too good not to. So, don't beat yourself up over it."

Sonic's lime eyes looked over at Shadow with an emotion he couldn't describe. He was familiar with it, but he couldn't name it. It was an old emotion that he hadn't felt in a long time.

* * *

After a few more minutes of talking about nothing while sitting in that tree together, they decided it was time to return to Tails. Sonic climbed up the tree a bit further to find the nest his little bird friend fell out of. He put the baby back in it's home, and jumped down along with Shadow to return home. It took them no time to run there, and before they knew it, they were opening and walking right through the door of Tails' house. When Sonic walked in, he was instantly annoyed. The place was a damn pig sty. Again. Shadow on the other hand couldn't believe his eyes. The house wasn't a mess when he first came here. How did the kitsune destroy the house in under twenty minutes?

Sonic face palmed and sighed to himself. "Of course." He glanced at Shadow with a friendlier face. "Hey, you wanna stay for a bit? I'm sure you're hungry, I could make some lunch for ya." Sonic made a fist and cracked his knuckles threateningly, still with that smile that was starting to seem less genuine and more creepy. "Then you can eat while I beat the _crap_ outta Tails for not keeping his house clean, for the _thousandth_ God damn time." The last part, he said rather heatedly. His face was obviously trying to hide his parent-like persona. Shadow blinked once and darted his eyes some place else.

"Err, sure. You got coffee?" He asked as he strolled over to Tails' sofa.

"Sure do! I'll make you some since you're a guest. Just lemme go downstairs for a sec, okay?" He walked backwards away from Shadow before bolting deeper into the house that led to the basement. Shadow's ear twitched at the sound of stomping. Then some startled gasps, and an anxious voice. Probably Tails. Then, he heard Sonic's. He sounded pretty peeved. He heard some excuses spewing from Tails, until he heard some grunts and yelling. The ebony hedgehog just sat there and crossed his legs as he listened. Then he heard a 'NO! Wait! I'm almost done with the-' He heard Sonic cut him off. 'Oh no you don't! You're taking a bath right now!' Then, more refusals from Tails. He heard more stomping, then the sounds of dragging.

Then, he watched before his eyes as Sonic dragged Tails by his...tails, to the stairs. The kid was digging his fingers in the floor, making marks in his carpet. He was filthy. Oil and dirt all over his fur. Shadow just looked with squinted eyes, not sure how he should feel about this. "S-Sonic! Come on! Just a few more minutes and I'll be done with the-OUCH! Quit pulling me!"

"Then get your ass up here!"

"Never! Not until I'm done with-W-Woaahh! Sonic, h-hold on!" The orange vulpine cried as he was lifted up over Sonic's shoulder. He reached his hand out to the heavens, hoping for someone to rescue him. " _Nooooo!_ " He wailed as his older brother carried him upstairs.

"You've been working nonstop since you healed, and you've got some serious B.O. You're taking a bath, Tails."

Huh. So that's what it was like having a sibling. Seemed rather stressful. Then again, he could remember Maria getting annoyed with him whenever he would act difficult as well. Probably wasn't that different of a relationship.

He noticed, Sonic's been working his ass off since he got back home. He's been put through the ringer. He was put through true hell. He almost died from complete depletion of chaos energy. He fought off a deadly fever that made his body as hot as the inside of a burning oven, while also being plagued by countless realistic nightmares. And now he was acting like a parent, taking care of Tails. He wouldn't be surprised if he came back downstairs just to talk with Shadow about getting back at Scourge. He just, couldn't get a break. He never thought he'd pity him so much before. His stamina was almost endless.

Shadow closed his eyes. Might as well meditate a little while he waited for his coffee. He would make it himself but, he didn't want to be rude. Normally, he wouldn't give a damn. But this was his little brother's house, and he didn't want to be a bad guest. Now about Scourge...What could they do? Let's say Tails did some how produce a way for them to get over to his world. Then what? The only reason why Shadow had the upper hand, was because Scourge was tired. If he was well rested, he would have been slaughtered. Sonic was obviously no match for him either. If they both went up against him together, it still wouldn't matter. Plus, he had the brainwashing power. What if he caught one of them in his clutches? Like Sonic said, he had a large sum of people working for him like minions. They'd have to tear through them first, which would definitely decrease their odds of confronting Scourge at full strength.

But, if they perhaps had the chaos emeralds-

-That was it. Yes, that was the only solution available. Get the emeralds, travel to his world, go super and annihilate that son of a bitch in cold blood. There was no way he could take on two super forms at once. That brainwashing might still be a problem, considering Dark Sonic was still able to be influenced despite his power. But, if they could just some how avoid that, maybe they really did have a chance! Yes, that was perfect. And it'd be no problem gathering the emeralds thanks to Tails and Sonic finding them all the time like clockwork. Shadow already had one on him, Rouge had one, the plan was flawless.

The hell with meditation. He needed to talk to Sonic right now.

Shadow shot up from his seat and sped walked to the stairs. He traveled to the second level of the house and looked around for Sonic. Ah, he should be in their bathroom. He walked over to their bathroom door and was about to knock, until he realized it was already cracked open. He tilted his head to the right to see through, and saw that Tails was getting his bath. Boy did he look miserable. Sonic was giving him a real scrubbing. He saw that both their shoes and gloves were by the tub. Wait, they were both in there? Oh, Sonic probably had to join him to make sure he'd stay in there. Understandable.

"Sonic, this is humiliating." The vulpine whined.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Like I care. You were so grimy, you left footprints in the damn house."

"Oh please. Mister, 'I wanna run in the rain through mud and grime!'" Tails slapped the wash cloth from his ungloved hand.

"Oho yeah? But guess who cleans it up? Oh wait that's right, not _you!_ " He grabbed the fox boy again with a tighter hold and looked in the water to find the cloth. Once he found what he was looking for, he began cleaning Tails once again. Bubbles formed from how hard he was washing.

"You're washing me too hard! I can do it myself!"

"I wouldn't have to wash you at all if you'd actually stay clean for a change, ya slob!"

The fox made a grunt of discomfort from all the cleaning. "This coming from the guy who has greasy chili dog wrappers all over his room!"

"And again, I'm also the same guy who cleans after himself, and the guy who's gonna help you clean your house. _Again._ " He retorted right back. "Now hold still before I dig my knuckles into your puny skull!"

"Like you're one to talk!"

"Tails, I swear to Chaos I will dunk you in this bath water like a friggin' basketball!"

"Since when do you like water anyway!?"

"I can still _bathe_ you idiot!"

While they were arguing, Shadow wasn't even paying attention. No, he was paying attention to something else. He never saw Sonic...wet, before. It was um, quite a sight to see, that was for sure. Like when he was in bed, sweating everywhere. To watch something drip down from his body like that. From in between his legs, off his tail, down his arms and torso. And, his arse. It made him shiny, perfectly shiny. His body was more attractive than he realized. He was fit and, yet he saw a few curves. All in the perfect places. Sonic had pulled Tails in between his legs so he could keep him still between his thighs. Anytime he'd try to move, Sonic would painfully squeeze him. Tails just pouted as his older brother washed him. Looking between his legs earlier when he was showing his scar, it was- Oh, he got up. Sonic stepped from out of the tub, fully bare, and went to the towel rack. His ruby eyes widened at his backside. Wow, that really looked good-

Holy shit, he was doing it again. Damn it, he had to stop that. While mentally slapping himself to wake the hell up from staring at eye candy, he concluded to himself that he'd just talk to Sonic when he was ready to come down. He quietly went back downstairs and returned to the sofa to wait.

* * *

"Sorry for the wait Shadow. Tails was bein' difficult as always." Sonic said as he walked over with a mug of coffee. A sleek black cup. Shadow liked it. With a ghost of a smile, he held it up to his lips and did a little taste test. Ah, perfect. Just the way he liked it. Plain black coffee. He didn't mind sweets, but the cream and sugar took away the natural flavor. He quickly thanked Sonic, and continued to sip the hot beverage. The blue hedgehog sat next to Shadow and got comfortable with his arms behind his head. "I had a feeling you of all people liked regular coffee. After all, it tastes like bitter, angry medicine-"

"If you're going to insult me, make it direct."

"Kidding, kidding.." Sonic chuckled. "What did you wanna talk about?"

"You're anti-self. We need to eradicate him."

The hero made an unreadable expression. "Isn't killing a bit, I dunno, extreme?"

"Whatever. As long as he's neutralized, it doesn't matter if he's dead or alive. And I have a plan." Shadow placed the cup down and licked his lips for a brief moment before continuing. As he did this, he caught Sonic staring at them. Now why was that? He smirked to himself. "Did you ask Tails to make something that could help us get to Anti-Mobius?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. That's actually what he was working on not too long ago. That's why he didn't want to stop, he was almost done." He made a small sigh and scratched the top of his head. "Guess I slowed down the progress, huh?"

"Nevermind that, it's fine. Now, do you have any idea where the chaos emeralds are?" He asked.

"Actually, we got five of 'em, but we don't have the other two. I know you have one."

"Indeed I do. Rouge has the last one. Borrowing it from her won't be an issue."

"Wait a minute," Sonic sat up from his lazy position and raised a brow at Shadow. "Are you suggesting we go over there and go super?"

Shadow crossed his arms and nodded. "That's precisely what I'm suggesting."

"..." Sonic didn't really like that plan. In fact, he didn't like any of this. "I, I mean that's a good idea but," He shook his head. No, why is this starting to sound too easy? In fact, if he knew any better, Scourge would have probably already came up with a plan to negate their super forms. That was far too simple of an idea. "No, it couldn't work."

"Why not..?" The ultimate life form became with perplexed with Sonic's uncertainty. He seemed distressed about something.

"It's too simple." He made a harsh thinking expression, trying to figure something else out as he spoke. "Think about it. I know I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes, but I know all too well that asshole's got somethin' up his sleeve to counteract our super forms. I mean, that's the same way I beat him last time." Sonic furrowed his brows with worry. "But he's a lot smarter than last time, he knows better than that. He knows that'd be the first thing we turn to, is our world's chaos emeralds. For him, that'd be far too predictable."

Shadow didn't respond, he just listened. He was absolutely right. He felt like an idiot for assuming that'd be the way to defeat him. But, wasn't that the only way?

"This ain't Eggman we're dealing with. Egghead's smart to a point, but Scourge..He's a whole different ballpark, I told you."

"You are correct." Shadow replied in a rather glum tone. In Sonic's opinion, he sounded rather salty. "I was foolish to think it'd be that easy."

"N-Nah nah!" Sonic tried to say with a more cheerful tone. "I mean, don't get me wrong, that _is_ a good idea! I barely defeated Scourge thanks to my super form, but, if both of us were fighting him," The blue hedgehog fidgeted around. "He would see that coming but, we'd still be really powerful together. And, I don't think he knows that you have a super form, Shadow. We could catch him off guard with that. I'm just, worried somethin' is gonna go wrong. I got this feeling nagging in my head that it's not gonna turn out the way we want."

The striped one curiously looked over at Sonic's concerned face. He was a little impressed, once again at Sonic's actions. Even though he sounded more like a worry-wort, he was still thinking strategically. He really did grow up. "I underestimated your thinking abilities, faker. I have to apologize."

"Wait, huh?"

"Anyway," Shadow picked up the mug and took another swig of coffee. "If what you're saying is true, then we may still have a chance regardless. Besides, what else could we even do?"

"Yeah, you're right. Might be our only choice." The hero finally said. "Okay then," He turned to Shadow with a full-on self-assured smile. That's what he liked to see. "Let's do it!" Shadow made a smaller smile back and set down his coffee. "All we gotta do is get that emerald from Rouge, wait for Tails to finish up, and we're all set!"

* * *

Hours went by, at least by five.

Shadow had ran over to Rouge's to retrieve the last emerald they needed. When he briefly explained their plan to her, she just tossed the gem over to him. She said that sounded way too complicated to ignore, so she easily gave it to him. She said it would be tough parting with her precious treasure that came from her even more precious Knuckles. But if it was to beat that green asshole, she'd gladly give Shadow all the emeralds in the world to get rid of him. She told him good luck, and made him remember what she said to him about Sonic. She bid him farewell, and made him promise to return to her in one piece. With that, he gave her a simple, yet warm goodbye as well and ran back to Tails' place.

When he returned, he saw Sonic was absolutely dreading the wait time on Tails' progress. He almost regretted making him take a bath. He was on the sofa, sprawled with a tired expression. When he saw Shadow walk in, his face cheered right up. He sat up straight and smiled. "Hey! You're back already." He greeted. Shadow walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Sonic. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"I didn't take much to get it from her. She literally tossed it at me once I mentioned Scourge's name."

"Can't blame her. He's serious bad news." Sonic leaned back in the seat and stared up at the ceiling.

"I wonder," Shadow suddenly thought out loud. "Is Scourge interested in the emeralds?"

"Nope." Sonic simply replied. "He couldn't care less about 'em. The only emerald he'd be into is the Master Emerald. That's how he turned green in the first place, and it'd turn him super real easily. But other than that, he's got no reason to care since he's got his own version of 'em."

"What's the opposite version of chaos emeralds in his world?"

" _Anarchy beryl_. They're super tiny versions of chaos emeralds, and they come in large amounts. Almost like bags of candy." The blue hedgehog glanced over at Shadow. "They're actually more powerful than our emeralds, and they make transformations last longer too."

"Sounds almost better than ours." The ultimate life form made a flat line with his mouth, looking unimpressed. "Too perfect. What's the downside?"

"Heh. Welp, let's say one of us went super with 'em. After you power down, it'll drain all of your energy and basically turn you into a dried up prune."

"Hmph." Shadow shrugged. "I knew it was too good to be true."

"In fact, that's the only reason why I beat Scourge." The hero confessed. "He had transformed and he...was way too powerful. I tricked him into powering down, and he fell for it thanks to his stupid ego. So once he did, he looked so confused. You shoulda seen the look on his face, ha!" Sonic grinned. "The dumbass passed out on me after I explained to him that powering down in his world pays a pretty hefty price."

"Interesting..." Shadow said to himself. "So then," He opened his eyes and turned to Sonic, who blinked twice.

"What?"

"You have several forms. What about him?"

"O-Oh. Well, if we're both really opposites, he should only have one. Actually, I think that's why he got the power to steal others, since he lacks what I have."

"I see..." He muttered. Sonic didn't like the way he kept trailing off like that. Meanwhile, Shadow kept eyeing him. His posture, his entire demeanor seemed off. What was he so anxious about? "When Tails' done, are you positive that you want to go after him?" He asked considerably.

"Of course I'm up for it!" The hero declared. "Besides, I don't have time to keep resting in bed while that maniac's out doing whatever he damn well pleases. We have to stop him before he does something even more crazy."

"I'm just making sure. I don't need you dragging us down, faker."

Sonic made a scowl. "As if! I'm more than prepared to-"

"What I mean is," Shadow cut him off while slightly rolling his eyes. "I want to make sure you're both physically and mentally prepared to confront him. Every time he's brought up, your focus depletes instantly. You're way too easily intimidated by him."

"Wha-!?" Sonic furrowed his brows, his expression turning sour. "Excuse you, no I'm not a girl, Shadow."

"Yes, you do." His dark rival dismissed his remark with own retort. "While you may not be as strong as him, you being daunted by him definitely increases your chances of losing to him. I've never seen you get so tense before." He crossed his legs and continued. "You're not just angry, you're afraid as well." He was about to say something else, until Sonic shot up from his seat and stood right in front of him.

"I'm not a coward, and I'm sure as hell not afraid of that bastard." His tone was low, and he didn't look very pleased. Shadow must have touched a nerve.

"Look, faker-"

"Yeah, I think that's pretty much the dumbest thing you've ever said to me." He growled. "He's been harassing me and my friends for a long time. I thought we'd never have to see him again, and now he comes outta no where kidnapping me on my own home island! I wanted a small break from it all, and I figured going back to my old home would make things all better. But no, I can't even get a break for once!" He yelled. His tone angrily grew louder with every word. "Every time I want to do something for myself, something always goes to shit! Eggman ruins it, or something else crazy happens and it falls all on me! Even with Eggman gone, I still can't sleep at night without someone knockin' on my door screamin' at me for help!" He harshly pointed to himself. "And now the worst of the very worst of my problems comes crawling back, even more powerful than before and he beats the crap outta me three times in a row! He humiliated me, took advantage of me, nearly kills my best friend and now I have to be the one to put him down all over again! I'm far from scared, but you've totally got one thing right." His eyes flared in fury. "I'm pissed the hell off! How would you feel!?"

His words, his rage...It all sounded very familiar to Shadow. He was starting to become what he became after Maria passed. Just harsh, and angry. And it wasn't even just Scourge, it all just sounded like extreme stress. That's why he kept second guessing their plan. He's stressed that something will go wrong. He's stressed that Scourge will one up them once again. He's scared that his enemy might be too tough to handle, and he's scared that he might not beat him this time.

He's scared that he'll be forced to give up again.

"Sonic," Shadow used his actual name in a gentle voice. He stood up as well and looked Sonic directly in the eyes to show that he was sincere. "What did you tell me when I met you on Mobius some time after I fell from the Ark?"

The blue one didn't reply, he only glared.

"You told me that I was afraid of something. You said I was more than just bitter, and you said something had frightened me the day that I fought the Biolizard."

He remembered it like it was yesterday. Sonic was happy that Shadow was alright. He was confused as to how he survived, but Shadow was just as confused as he was. When Sonic tried to make small talk, Shadow wasn't having it. This was a time where Shadow wasn't too close to him, not at all. He still despised him because of his annoying nature, and didn't like conversing with him, until he brought up a good point. Sonic told him that he was scared of something.

"I denied it immediately, until you went into detail."

* * *

 _"Ahh, yeah I think I get it now." Sonic said cheerfully._

 _"I'm surprised you get anything at all with your slow brain capacity-" Shadow was going to insult, until he was interrupted._

 _"You were scared. And, I think you still are." The sapphire Mobian smiled. The other just scoffed at him._

 _"Ha, the only thing frightful in this world is your ignorance, faker. You know nothing about me."_

 _"Um," Sonic made a thinking expression, looking up at the sky as if he was searching for answers in the clouds. He just innocently kept pointing things out. "Nah, I think I know enough."_

 _"..!? You..I suggest you leave before I do something to you." Shadow growled, a nasty insult was waiting to be spouted right at the hero. But, he didn't care. He kept on talking._

 _"I mean, sure I don't know you as well as my friends. But I think I can figure out why you're such a grump. I mean yeah, you had a pretty screwed up past and all, but, you're worried. You're worried that something really bad is gonna happen, and take everything you care about away from you again. You think history is gonna repeat itself, and that's why you're kind of an ass. Sure you like solitude, who doesn't? But you take isolation to another level 'cause you think that's the only thing you can be. Alone."_

 _Shadow didn't utter a word, he only glowered._

 _"You think you're not gonna hold up your promise to her. Maria, right? You were scared of that when you fought that big ugly thing. You were afraid that you might not be able to go through with it, and fail everyone, because you think you failed your creator and her. Um, Dr. Gerald, I think." Sonic crossed his arms and tilted his head while looking at the ground. "Now that I think about it, that's a pretty good reason to be crabby all the time. But, you really shouldn't." He put one hand on his hip and made a big smile. "You're totally stressed all the time because of all that! I know you probably hate me, but you still got Rouge waitin' for ya. I can guarantee you, no one's goin' anywhere. Not on my watch. So don't be so down all the time, alright?" He confidently assured him._

 _Meanwhile, as Shadow listened to his words, he realized that he wasn't that far from the truth. He just wouldn't for the life of him admit it._

 _"Besides," Sonic's cheerfulness, calmed down with a more compassionate voice. "I'm pretty sure they're both proud of you. Even though Dr. Gerald was angry for what happened to that poor girl, I think he regretted turning you into the complete opposite of what you were meant for. But I also think he'd be happy to know that you turned it around and did some good. And I'm sure Maria would be happy too." He held out his hand to Shadow, his palm open and welcoming. "You don't have to stress about that anymore. I'm sure you won't come to me, but still. If you need someone to vent to or race, I'm always here." He nodded his head over to his open hand. "Truce?"_

 _"...Why?" Was all Shadow whispered. "Why are you like this?"_

 _"Hm? Like what?"_

 _"Why are you being kind towards me? I couldn't care less for it." He grumbled. Though, the last part was a lie._

 _Sonic just shrugged. "I'd rather have you as a friend than an enemy. Even though you'd probably be a sweet sparring partner, I don't wanna fight you anymore. And," He added. "You're not a bad person. I hope you realize that. You were created, but_ nobody comes out the womb evil _. Not even Egghead. Well, maybe, but you get my point."_

 _His overwhelming ability to show kindness, even after everything that's happened, was inspiring. From that conversation alone, he realized that perhaps his view on life really wasn't accurate. That perhaps he should let people in. And if it really didn't work out, it wouldn't be a big deal. He didn't have to be so angry about it, or anything for that matter. Maybe, he was right. About everything. Maybe he should just, let it all go._

 _"Aw come on man, my arm's dyin' over here!" Sonic whined as his arm stayed craned in the same place, waiting for Shadow's hand to shake it. The black hedgehog glazed his eyes over his gloved hand, and slowly held out his own. Fine. He'd let his guard down just this once. He'd put his trust in him. He firmly grasped Sonic's hand with his own, and shook it once._

 _"..Truce."_

* * *

"You're doing the same thing I did. You're overly stressing yourself about something that may or may not happen, and you're letting that freak get the better of you just because he's the main cause of your problems." Shadow concluded. "You're afraid of failing, and giving into him again. But you don't know for sure if that will actually happen. Frankly, I don't think it will. But even if it does, you can't turn out the way I did, the way Gerald did." Shadow stepped closer to Sonic, and put one hand on his peach shoulder. By now, Sonic was looking away from him. And he looked ashamed of himself once again. "When you turned into Dark, that form embodied the way you are now perfectly. Frightened, and furious."

This, made Sonic squeeze his eyes shut with his teeth clenched together. He didn't want to hear that, he didn't want to hear the truth.

"Perhaps you are more irritable because you recently reverted out of that form. Who knows? You still can't let that overcome you. Because if we fight against Scourge with the way you are now, you won't just drag me down, you'll drag us both down. And your negativity will be what dooms us both." He dragged his hand down, and gently tightened his grip on Sonic's forearm. "The things he did to you were unspeakable, I understand that. And believe me when I say I completely understand your rage. But personally, I don't think you're ready. I think you should continue to rest, and take a few days to yourself. It's not like you don't deserve it, and you don't have to prove anything to anyone." His ruby eyes watched his body language carefully, trying to see if he was actually taking what he said into consideration. "Do you understand?" He asked quietly.

"...I-I," Sonic crossed his arms below his chest, as if he was hugging himself. His ears slightly flattened, and his anger disappeared entirely. Now, melancholy painted itself well known all over his face. His bright green eyes looked down at the floor miserably, and frowned. "I'm sorry." He murmured. "I'm really, really sorry for that. I didn't mean any of it."

"Yes you did." Shadow blankly stated. "You meant every word of what you said because that's obviously how you felt all this time. Don't lie."

"I didn't mean to act that way towards you, though." Sonic said as he went to rub his own arm for self comfort, until he realized he put his hand right on top of Shadow's. He flinched and looked over at it, Shadow was still holding him. He looked back up at his rival and blinked once. He didn't say anything, however. When Shadow looked to where his own hand sat, he looked right back up at Sonic and he didn't pull his hand away. And then, he was pulled closer. But not roughly, gently. They were so close, Sonic's nose nearly brushed against Shadow's. He turned his head away a little, while still keeping his eyes on his red ones. Shadow rubbed the palm of his hand onto Sonic's, and his other hand caressed his other arm as well. He leaned his head forward, and Sonic automatically did the same. Shadow's face was nuzzling his at this point, his tan lips hovering right next to peach ones. Sonic was so vulnerable like this. Willingly vulnerable for him, while Scourge had to force him. That meant a lot to him. That meant there was some potential here, for something more.

"Sha.." Sonic tried to say his name but, it only came out as a silent moan. His mouth was agape, like he wanted it. They were twitching, like he wanted to say more. Like he wanted to protest, but he couldn't. His eyes were lowered, the cheeks on his muzzle were turning red. Shadow felt his body temperature rising, and he was getting nervous. He liked that. When Shadow moved to brush his lips against his, Sonic opened his mouth even more and almost closed his eyes completely. Shadow raised his hand to Sonic's chin and pressed his thumb over it. He tilted it upwards so that Sonic could move his head back a bit. He could see his tongue slightly moving, like it wanted to be put somewhere in particular. Shadow was right about to make a move until-

"Sonic!" They heard Tails call from another room. This made them both try to back away from each other immediately, but they accidentally bumped right into each other's heads. The impact was hard enough to cause a head ache, and it made them both step away and hold their heads simultaneously while cursing to themselves. They both groaned in pain while rubbing their now sore temples.

When the twelve-year old ran into the room, he looked excited. That is, until he saw the pained expressions on their faces. He squinted his baby blue eyes and looked between them back and forth. "Um, you guys okay?"

"Ow..Yeah, we're fine." Sonic exhaled heavily. "Just an accident." He said while glancing at Shadow. The striped hedgehog cleared his throat and silently agreed with him while nodding his head carefully.

"Uh, alright." Tails said uncertainly. "I finished the warp ring. You guys leaving now?"

"Actually," His older brother made a small smile. "I think I'm gonna stay for now. I don't think I'm ready just yet. My legs need to relax a little more."

"R-Really?" The vulpine asked in shock. "But you really wanted to go. I thought you and Shadow were just waiting to get out of here."

"Yeah we were but, Shadow said I should take it easy just a little while longer. I don't just need to rest, but I need to take a load off my mind too." Sonic squatted down to his little brother, so that they'd be at eye level. Funny how they used to be almost the same height, but now Sonic was much taller even as Tails grew. "For once, I should have listened to you and stayed in bed today. Your big bro's been through a lot this month. And, it'd be nice to relax here some more. Of course, if that's alright with you."

Tails couldn't believe what he was hearing. He looked up from him, and turned to Shadow. The fox's expression was basically asking, 'Is he for real?' And almost as if he heard his internal thoughts, Shadow just nodded slowly. Saying that everything was fine, and that he should just listen to Sonic. "W-Well," Tails turned back to Sonic and scratched the top of his own head. "Of course you can stay. I mean, you did help me get this place after all. You don't have to help me clean the house, I'll do it. You should relax." He smiled brightly.

"Thanks, buddy." He ruffled the top of Tails' head and stood up. "I'm gonna head to bed."

"This early? But-" He stopped himself and cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah. Go ahead." He nodded. Sonic waved towards the both of them and moved to walk to the stairs. But right before he did, he went past Shadow. He purposely brushed against his shoulder and whispered something right before he made it to the stairs. Something that made Shadow's eyes dilate.

"Come back in a few days from now." He said quickly, and quiet enough for Tails not to hear. "I'll be ready for Scourge, and we'll talk about what just happened." He said smoothly. "See you then." He lingered a bit against him, before moving away just as fast as he spoke up the stairs to sleep. Tails didn't notice a thing and just watched his brother leave before looking back at their guest, who just stared at the wall while looking unsettled about something. His cheeks seemed a tad bit red for some reason too.

"You okay?" Tails asked with a confused tone. Weird things kept happening with them and he didn't really get what was going on.

Shadow just blinked twice and nodded without more than one word. "...Yeah..."

He was going to kiss Sonic right in his little brother's living room.

What a day.

* * *

 **END - 8**

 **I just gotta say thank you to those who reviewed in the last chapter. I'm so happy that you understand my vision, and that you get my creativity. I hope I don't let you down, but I also hope that you enjoy this little twist on the anti characters. With that, we'll move on to our little bonus at the bottom. (Not that many points for this one, but there is one that you should ponder about.) Have a lovely day.**

 **EDIT: Just finished making the cover picture not too long after I posted this chapter. Unfortunately you can't view the entirety of the cover image since it has to fit in such a small little square of pixels. I also cannot post a link to view said picture, and can only describe it to you. "Describe it to us? Why would you have to do that? It's just a cover picture." Well my friends, that's not true. You can actually spoil yourself from the cover picture alone if you look at it carefully and see the hidden messages drawn in it. I'll get more into it later when more chapters are posted, but the big hint in this cover image is that it represents Scourge as a whole. Near the end, I will describe in detail all of the features in this image that'll make everything seem so obvious. That's all I'll say for now.  
**

1\. Scourge doesn't give two shits about Mobius Primes's chaos emeralds, and doesn't see them as important. He barely cares for the Master Emerald, and his own world's anarchy beryl. However, unlike Sonic with his world's chaos emeralds, Scourge's beryl will render him very vulnerable and completely dried out of power once he reverts out of his super form.

2\. It is hinted that Scourge has developed something to counteract or be more powerful than both Sonic and Shadow's super forms.

3\. Unlike any other villain that Sonic has encountered, Scourge is the only enemy to break Sonic and force him to give up. He's the only enemy who's scarred him to a point of making him fear and cower from his adversary. He is truly something more intimidating and a lot different than any of his other opponents.

 _4\. (Not a difference, but a **questionable similarity** ) Sonic mentions that no one is born evil. To this sense, one can infer that no one is born a saint either. Shadow is living proof of this. So could the same be said for others, and could this be said for Sonic as well?_


	9. Welcome To Moebius

**9 - Welcome To Moebius**

* * *

 _ **\- One week and three days since Scourge's appearance.**_

Well, it's been three days. Shadow already said his second exchange of farewells to his roommate. Rouge gave him some kisses on his face, and told him to be careful and not to do anything too crazy. She reminded him once again about her advice on Sonic. She gave him a hug and made him promise her to give that green bastard a good kick in the teeth when they found him. She gave him a communicator that seemed similar to a smart device, just in case she needed to report to Shadow if something crucial happened back at home.

He ran over back to Tails' place once again and knocked once. Not even a minute later, it opened right up. Shadow looked down below to see the orange fox chewing on something. The aroma of sweet batter and mint wafted his nostrils. He made a small sniff and stepped inside the house. Tails pushed the door to close it and began turning his namesakes. He floated up into the air and flew himself over to the sofa. He landed on the cushions and continued to chew on the candy in his mouth. He waved and greeted the ultimate life form. Though, his words sounded muffled. Shouldn't really talk with food in your mouth.

"Mnn, hmm Shmmdww."

"I'm sorry?" Shadow lowered his eyes.

Tails swallowed the candy and licked his lips in delight. "Nm." He gulped before taking in a breath to speak up again. "I said, hey Shadow."

"Candy this early in the day?" He asked as he leaned against the wall near the door. Tails nodded excitedly.

"Heck yeah! Sonic went to the store earlier and bought me some mint candies. Then he got breakfast started and made some pancakes. But he made mine with mint candies in them! It was so good." The fox made a wide grin and his eyes nearly rolled back from the pleasure of having that delicious wonder food on his taste buds.

"Faker can use a stove?"

"You'd be surprised. Amy and Cream taught him how to cook things properly since he used to burn everything he touched, but then he just started getting better on his own." Tails reached behind him and lifted up one of the pillows from the furniture. His eyes widened at the small plastic bag of candies he had stashed. He picked it up in his hands and unraveled the twisty tie sealing it. He happily dug his hand inside for more of the minty goodness. "You should eat before you go. Sonic's pancakes are pretty good."

Shadow's face was lightly amused. "I'm surprised he eats things other than those weird hot dogs."

"Heh, I thought the same thing." Tails looked over from the living room down the hall to the kitchen. He called out for his brother to get a move on. "Sonic! Shadow's waiting for you in here!"

They both heard some shuffling and metal clanging. "I'll be out in a sec, bro!" He called back.

Shadow internally groaned at Sonic's delay. "I presume you finished your project?"

"I sure did, and it's perfect." Tails said rather splendidly. But his expression looked arrogant. Guess the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. "Probably my best work yet, if I do say so myself." Shadow almost laughed at the little one's cockiness. "Okay, so there's a thing called a warp ring. It's a ring that can basically take you from one place to another by using chaos energy. Kinda like teleportation, like chaos control. Since you both have all seven emeralds, it should be no problem getting to where you want. It has advanced technical properties, and it's basically a little tiny machine. Usually, a portal opens up and stays open for a short while, and that's your chance to hop on through it. However, I invented this one so that it just instantly transports you." As he munched down on his candies, he continued his explanation. "So I programmed it to take you to Moebius, with your return destination back to Mobius Prime. But," Tails trailed off. His confidence was replaced with perplexity.

"But?" Shadow tried to help finish his sentence.

"It's just that, those are the only two locations I programmed in it. Sonic said that you both might be able to change the destination to where ever you want regardless of how it was programmed thanks to your abilities."

"Hn, with enough power that may prove to be true. But we'll figure that out when the time is right." He self assured. Then he scowled when he noticed how much time passed since he came here. Where the hell was that hedgehog? "Faker, get your ass in here. Let's _go_." He sternly yelled to the other room.

Tails gulped down his last mint candy and blinked at Shadow's words. "Wait, you're leaving right now? You don't wanna eat first or something?"

"Scourge is terrorizing his own world, and I'm sure he's planning to come here and do the same. We've no time for that, and we need to act now." He said responsibly. "Besides, I filled up before I got here." He added before looking down at Tails. "And you'll be able to fend for yourself, yes?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. I already told everybody you'd be leaving. Well, everyone except Amy. She'd be running to my doorstep by now. They'll have my back if I need help."

"Likewise." He nodded.

"You know Shadow, I wasn't too sure about you hanging around Sonic at first. But," The vulpine got up from his seat and dusted himself off of any hard candy crumbs. He smiled at the dark hedgehog warmly. "I was wrong about you. You're a decent guy." He complimented. "So I'm gonna trust you to take care of my brother. He better come back home right as rain, got it?" He commanded firmly. It was a little hard to take the child seriously with his pouty face, but nevertheless, Shadow agreed to his terms.

He never thought he'd ever hear the little fox say that to him. He was on his good side now. "..Of course."

"Good." Tails turned around and groaned in annoyance. "Sonic, come on! You've got a hedgehog to catch!" He called again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Sonic repeated as he jogged in the room. He was pulling one of his gloves down on his bare peach hand. He flexed his fingers and made a firm fist to affix his garment. "I'm ready." He said. He looked much more refreshed than the last time they met. He looked like he just took a shower, too. Tails noticed this as well and looked up and down on his form. "I had to clean your kitchen and wash up. Sorry I took so long."

"Wait, but weren't you just in the kitch...Ah, whatever." Tails shrugged. "Got the emeralds?"

"Yup." Once the hero said that, six priceless gemstones appeared before them all in their beautiful shining colors. Hovering around Sonic like multicolored diamond rock angels. They then teleported away in a flash, and they were gone. Shadow held the seventh in his quills, whom seemed impressed.

"Chaos control?" His rival asked.

"Chaos control." Sonic confirmed. "It'd be annoying to carry them in a bag, and we can't shove them all in our quills. So I put them somewhere in time and space. A trick I learned."

Shadow smirked. "Nice."

"I got the warp ring too." He held up one hand that twirled the small ring in between his fingers. "Tails made it smaller than the usual ones, so it's easier to carry." He walked over and gave a noogie to his fox friend. "Little genius copied off of Scourge's model by just taking one glance."

"Heheh. It was nothing. Well, maybe it was something-" His self boasting was interrupted by his own giggles at Sonic's playful manner. "Just try not to take too long over there. And be careful for once, alright?"

Sonic fixed up his head fur and patted him. "We'll be fine. I'll see ya soon, buddy." He watched the smaller one spread open his arms and hug his lower torso since he was short. His elder brother smiled down at him tenderly, and embraced him back with one arm. After they said their goodbyes, Tails stepped back and moved aside so Sonic could make his way to the door. He gestured for Shadow to follow him, and he turned back and made one more wave goodbye to Tails before stepping out the front door.

He heard some small talk go between Sonic and Shadow before he heard the sounds of sparks. A white flash lightened the entire house from the outside, before fading away. This made the vulpine sigh sadly. They were gone.

He just got his brother back.

This was important though, so he'd just have to tough it out until then.

* * *

With a couple of white sparks and then a white flash, both Sonic and Shadow landed down on what seemed like hard roughed up concrete. Steadily, they both stood up straight and surveyed their surroundings. It was like a dingy version of Mobius Prime. Only it seemed more like a dystopia written wasteland rather than a normal city. In fact, it seemed abandoned. Large buildings were on their last legs. Windows busted out, bricks laid on the streets. Pieces of scrap metal burned to crisps, not even worth salvaging. Houses were dormant and laid in ruins. Anything that involved an occupation was destroyed. Banks? They looked like they were ransacked. Post offices? It was crumbling to pieces. Schools, markets, gas stations, you name it. They were all just places of wreckage.

Shadow assumed they were in a place similar to Station Square, just desolate and eerie. Even the skies here were dark and cloudy. There was trash and litter everywhere. There were decaying pieces of what Shadow assumed were dead carcasses. Chaos, maybe there were actual dead _Moebians_ around here. And maybe some were buried underneath all the debris. There were some cars that were laying in the middle of the streets. Some were tossed over and flipped on their side. Some didn't have any rims or tires. Some were completely destroyed or ravaged of parts.

It was so quiet here. The only thing they heard, was the soft tumbling wind that weakly blew in the air. Even the world's natural elements were feeble. It barely pushed back the fur on their skins. To Sonic, this was just an old place that left a bad taste in his mouth. To Shadow, this was a complete apocalyptic world that was far too scarred and damaged to repair. When Black Doom came to their world, when he threatened to destroy it all...The eclipse cannon, Gerald's revenge...If Sonic hadn't stepped in, would this have been the result? Guess he should be a little more thankful for Sonic's meddling. After all, that's what hero's did, right? Meddle when they're not supposed to.

"This is.." Shadow didn't finish. He just couldn't believe his eyes. Did Scourge cause all _this_? Sonic shook his head at the place.

"Welcome to anti-Mobius, Shadow. Probably the worst place to live."

"Did he do this as well?" His rival questioned in a scorned whispered.

"He might have. I don't know if he was the main cause but, I think he was definitely involved some way somehow. Come on." Sonic ushered Shadow away from their starting point, and began walking down the cracked streets of Moebius. Shadow constantly kept looking around, taking in all this world's ruination. It was just lamentable. There were seriously dark alleyways, begging for someone to waltz right in and get abducted. Something else to avoid he supposed. "A close friend of mine told me everything he knew about this place." Sonic said as he and Shadow walked side by side. "'Member how I said Scourge was a prince? Well, his dad was obviously a king. When he was in rule, he helped cause something called _'The Great Peace'_. It made the world of Moebius prosper, and things were peaceful for ten years. But, after a decade-Ngh!" Sonic was interrupted by tripping over something. He looked down and saw a wet dead rat was stuck to his feet. There was blood and, some other substance he couldn't identify. He swung his leg back and forth to wring it off, but it wasn't budging. With a wince, he stomped his heel on the ground, making it pop right off with a sickening sound. "Ew.."

Shadow just turned his head away in disgust.

"A-Anyway," Sonic tried to continue as he began scraping the bottom of his shoe off on the concrete to get rid of the icky material. "After a decade, everything fell apart. A horrible event occurred. The most awful, most petrifying event in their history happened. A tragedy." The cobalt hero looked across the street, just to see an abandoned hospital. There were supplies of gauze and pill bottles rolling out of it's destroyed entry way. "The king had disappeared, but then it was discovered that he was brutally murdered. His disappearance, caused the first phase of chaos. And soon, the entire world suffered from a never ending crisis. People rioted, people stole, and people started to kill. No one was safe, 'cause they either starved, got killed, escaped some place else, or worse. And maybe," Sonic stopped in his tracks and stared at the deserted city. "Anyone who couldn't get away and stayed here, was probably brainwashed by Scourge."

The red and black hedgehog walked to stand by his kindhearted rival, and looked with him in the same direction.

"That, is the history of anti-Mobius. At least, that's what he told me." The blue speedster started to shiver, and hugged his arms to his chest. "Freakin' cold here."

"Dead and cold to be exact." Shadow replied.

"Yeah."

As they watched the crumbling city fall apart, it was silent for a moment. A peaceful, quiet moment. It was just them and their thoughts. That is, until Sonic remembered the very thing he wanted to talk to Shadow about. He turned to him, and nudged his arm to get his attention with his elbow. Shadow was spaced out until he felt it. He glanced at Sonic before returning his eyes back into the distance.

"About that incident the other day," He started slowly. "Wanna explain what that was about?" He smirked. While he really wanted to know why Shadow tried to make out with him a few days ago, he also wanted to lighten up the mood.

"..I have no idea what you're talking about." Shadow quickly dismissed.

"Ohoho no you don't mister." Sonic stepped closer towards Shadow, making the other stiffen his body. He refused to look at Sonic, be he also refused to let him see that he was kinda losing it. He was seriously hoping he'd just forget about that. Sonic raised his gloved finger and pressed it against Shadow's chest, right on his white fluffy chest fur. "You tell me what that was right now, or we go no where."

"I don't believe you have the authority to dictate that."

"Actually I do, because I have the emeralds. And you're a deadman if you try to fight Scourge by yourself. Not to mention I know my way around here and you don't." Sonic took one more step closer. His leg was in between Shadow's, and knee was hovering in between his pelvis. Sonic put his hands on his hips and his smirk deepened. "So, you're gonna answer me. Right now." His mouth was close enough for his words to vibrate right in Shadow's ears. The ultimate life form licked his lips, feeling that they were suddenly becoming dry, and continued to avert his eyes some place else. Now really wasn't the time for this. They already wasted enough time staring at the scenery.

"Faker, I'm really not in the mood." Was all Shadow would say.

"Not in the mood..?" Sonic repeated to himself. "Not in the mood, not in the _mood?_ " He started to laugh. "Ha, not according to you. In fact, if I recall correctly, you couldn't say anything because you were too busy trying to stick your tongue down my throat!"

"We don't have time for this." Shadow turned away from him entirely and began to walk away. Sonic let him, and just followed behind him right on his heels.

"Well we got all the time in the world pal, 'cause you ain't goin' no where without me to guide you."

The dark one stubbornly disregarded this. "I'll find his castle on my own."

Sonic just narrowed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "And do what? Fight him? You wanna make another suicide attempt by yours truly?"

This time, Shadow didn't make a retort. He just stopped walking and reared his head back towards Sonic. He looked pretty irked and insulted. But his blue ally just kept talking, that face didn't effect him at all.

"You can look at me like that all you want. I'm not the one who started it."

Shadow felt his nerves tense right up in pure spitefulness. "Didn't you start the fucking conversation?"

"Asshole, I mean that I didn't try to kiss you. _You_ came for _me_. And I'd like a damn explanation, unless that's just too much to freakin' ask!" Sonic was really starting to lose his patience as well. Shadow walked in front of him and glared his semi-immortal red eyes right in his face.

"And you will get your petty-ass exposition when we're done with our deed. Seriously," He snarled. "That son of a bitch is probably causing even more mayhem, and you want to waste time by arguing about something as trivial as a fucking kiss?!" He hollered. Hearing him shout right in his face only fueled Sonic's forgotten rage even further.

"Well I wouldn't be pressin' the issue so much if someone wasn't acting so defensive!" He yelled right back. "And this coming from the guy who says I should take a few days off."

Shadow shoved his forehead against Sonic's, who didn't see that action coming. He winced and was forced to be pushed back. "Yeah because obviously you needed to cool off from acting like a damn _coward!_ " And that right there set it all off.

Sonic gritted his teeth. "You're a God damn hypocrite!" He growled while shoving his hands square into Shadow's chest to knock him right back.

The ebony one shouted, "And you're an idiot!"

"Screw you!" Sonic shouted back. As they screamed at each other, they got in each other's faces again and pressed their heads against the other's threateningly. Their fists were clenched, and they could feel their muscles aching to punch something. They needed to hit something, and their target was going to be each other if this went on any longer.

Shadow's red eyes brightly began to make a faint ominous glow. "Fuck you, hedgehog!"

Sonic's pupils started to shrink into slits and his eyes were becoming a dark green. "FUCK you!"

" _FUCK_ you!"

Their screaming fest didn't end even as the sound of glass shattering ruptured throughout the dismal streets. Even as unruly strangers began to crawl out of the dark corners and alleyways, they still continued to yell at each other. They didn't see the dirt infested, rag doll looking criminals waiting to get their hands on them. They had weapons, but they were all just pieces of rubbish. Such as glass shards being used a shivs, or torn up plastic bags filled with sharp heavy rocks. They all looked malicious, and they were planning to spill blood. To kill, to murder. After all, that's what this world was about. That was basically one of the rules here, kill or be killed...Sometimes, eat or be eaten.

"I should have known that you're stupidity would drag me down again."

" _Again?_ You really wanna go there? Huh?!" Sonic barked back. "I'll knock your ass right into the ground!"

"Not before I toss your scrawny ass through a brick wall!"

That insult really ruffled his fur. He couldn't even said anything back. He just bared his teeth and continued to seethe. One of the thugs that was coming near Sonic raised a hand that held a large glass shard. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you. Everyone was right," He suddenly reached behind himself and grabbed hold of the stranger's torn up shirt. "You really are nothing but a _dickhead!_ " He yelled as he swung the Moebian right into Shadow. His now bitter rival lost his balance with a jolt, and found himself getting thrown into another building across the street. Deja vu.

He was starting to shake, that's how fucking irritated he was right now. Well if he wanted a little warm up, that was fine by him. Shadow easily shoved the Moebian off of his body and stood up off the ground. He marched himself out of the wrecked structure and kept his fists clenched at his sides. With a determined glower, he disappeared in a flash. Sonic blinked, realizing he used chaos control. Just as the thugs behind him tried grabbing him again, Shadow warped right in front of Mobius Prime's hero and kicked him right in the stomach. It was so hard, Sonic felt his breakfast almost come up from his throat.

The impact threw him into the crowd of thugs, that easily knocked out at least half a dozen of them when Sonic landed on them as a soft pile. Sonic charged some chaos energy into his body, allowing his form to glow with a blue aura. He made a pissed off expression, and charged towards Shadow at top speed. He was going so fast, a sonic boom resonated. And because it was so fast, Shadow didn't have much time to dodge. So instead, he made a force field around himself made of red aura, comprised of his own chaos energy. When Sonic made an impact against it, it threatened to break, but it didn't. Instead, it sent Sonic flying backwards.

Getting frustrated, Sonic caught himself in the air and twisted his body to land on the ground. He sped towards the force field again and shoved his fist into it. Shadow almost smirked at his lame attempt at trying to destroy it, until he saw it actually was starting to collapse. Sonic's fist was protruding from Shadow's end of the shield, and it was reaching for him. Sonic's wavelength of energy disrupted Shadow's force field and made it deteriorate entirely. Sonic was able to reach his hand through and grip the ebony hedgehog by his chest fur. He yanked him closer and tried to swing his fist right into his face.

Shadow quickly reached up and caught his hand by seizing his wrist tightly. He laughed in his face and sneered. "Did you forget that I'm superior when it comes to strength, faker?" He crushed his fingers into Sonic's arm, making Sonic squint one of his eyes in pain. "A fatal mistake!" Shadow lifted Sonic upwards and swung him down into the concrete. His head hit the ground hard, and he felt woozy. He tried getting up, until Shadow suddenly appeared over him and pinned one of his hands above him with one arm. He reached and wrapped his fingers around Sonic's neck, squeezing against it. Sonic began to choke, and closed his eyes shut tightly while coughing. "Just admit defeat and get over it!"

"Nnngh.." Sonic felt his teeth grow slightly sharper, and he didn't know why. He didn't care. All he wanted to do was kick his ass. He reached up his legs and wrapped them around Shadow's neck with a death grip. He put his free head on top of his head and shoved it down in between them so he could suffocate him even more. His thighs tightened against him, making his dark rival choke up as well and start to lose his grip on the hero. As for the surrounding Moebians who were still standing, they figured now would be a good time to strike since they were fighting each other. But the very second one of them tried to move, they were smacked in the face with a sneaker.

That was because Shadow was standing up, trying to swing Sonic off of him by tossing his body around. The more he moved, the more he accidentally knocked out more Moebians. At this point, they were all down for the count. It was no use, Sonic was locked onto him like a spider monkey. He would _not_ let go. Shadow was yelling curses at him, but it was muffled by the speedster's blue legs. "Huh? What'd ya say buddy? Can't hear you over the sound of your grouching!" That made Shadow growl loudly, and it rumbled against Sonic's fur. Like a bull, he felt steam blow out of his nostrils. He then placed his hands on Sonic's legs and ran towards a nearby wrecked shop. He slammed themselves into it, with Sonic taking the brunt of the blow. "Ngh!"

* * *

Scourge just stared at his phone screen with confused eyes. "I, I don't get it-The fuck are they doing?" He just didn't understand what was going on with his camera feed. Why were they fighting each other? And why the hell were his lackeys so incompetent?! "Why the fuck are they getting slaughtered out there?"

A female member of his 'coup', a hawk that was dressed in black garb, nervously poked her claws against each other. "W-Well sir, Fiona did her best to send out our-"

He angrily interrupted her. "Fiona can hold my fucking cock, this is bullshi-Oh _my_." He covered his mouth while blinking several times as he tried to convey what was happening. Oooh, things were getting steamy.

* * *

Shadow was pinning Sonic's back against a brick wall, with his legs still wrapped around him. This time, they were wrapped around his waist, and they were squeezing the air out of him. Shadow had his hand once again tightened on Sonic's neck, while his other hand was rearing back its arm to prepare to punch. Sonic had his fingers tangled in the ultimate life form's head of black and red fur. His other hand was open, with blue energy forming inside of it. He was preparing to launch it right in Shadow's temple. The blue one's pelvis was pressed right up against the dark one's lower abdomen. If anyone were to see them in such a position, they'd think they were about to engage into something rather sensual.

But with the looks on their faces, naughty ideas was the last thing on their minds.

Shadow swung his fist, but Sonic moved his face just in time for his knuckles to graze his cheek.

"Get-" The speedster threw his hand to Shadow's forehead, and made a blast. "OFF!" The force of it made Shadow drop Sonic onto ground and cover his temple while cringing from the sudden head trauma.

"Little shit-!" Shadow cursed. "Since you want to use them like toys, I'll gladly show you a _real_ chaos blast!" He raised the palm of his hand at Sonic who was still getting up from the ground. A red light began emerging from his hand, and it glowed even brighter and bigger as seconds went by. The hero just watched with slight fear as he stood in the face of a charging chaos blast. Even if he moved, the radius of the blast would get him, and he definitely couldn't block that. He couldn't do a thing. But then, his now dark green eyes darted from Shadow to something behind him.

Shadow briefly looked to the side to see some Moebians struggling to move over to them with scraps of litter being used as weapons. Holy crap, how did they miss that? Just as Shadow was about to turn back around, Sonic had swiped his leg right under his air shoes. Shadow lost his balance and tried to steady himself, but as he did, the arm that was holding the charging blast in his hand waved towards the Moebians. The charge time was premature, but ready, and unfortunately for them, Sonic's stunt accidentally made Shadow trigger it.

It surged all the way down the road, demolishing everything in its way and turning it into oblivion. Those poor men tried their best to get out of the way of the blast, but those who weren't so lucky screamed. As the light of the blast died down, both hedgehogs cringed at the sight of their mess. They were all laid flat out in the streets. They weren't planning on getting up any time soon. Worried that they all could have died, Shadow ran to one of bodies, a wolf, and grabbed them. He shook them to try and wake them up, but it was no use. He placed two fingers on their necks and waited. He felt a very weak pulse. They were alive.

Thank goodness the blast was premature, because if it was fully powered, it would have decimated every living thing here. Damn it, he was so stupid. Why did he let himself participate in some silly fight? And he was the one who aggravated it, Sonic didn't put his hands on him until Shadow shoved against him first.

Where was that moron anyway?

When Shadow turned around, he saw Sonic in the same place he was before the blast. Only, he was looking at himself with frightened eyes. "Oh no..Oh no no no, not now.."

"The hell?" The semi immortal being narrowed his eyes at his rival, wondering what got him spooked. Then, he saw his fur darkening from blue to a nasty navy. A black aura began to erupt from his body, and it was spreading quickly. Shit, he was changing again!

"N-No, stop it! Not now..!"

"Sonic, come here." Shadow went to place a foot forward, until Sonic snapped at him like an animal.

"You stay back! Get the hell away from me!" It was like his voice got deeper.

Now wasn't the time for more fighting. If he was going to stop this, Shadow had to keep his composure for now. "You need to calm down, I'm not going to attack you again." He said calmly as he carefully tread himself over to Sonic. He was looking at his hands, and then he looked down at his legs to see they were turning color as well. He felt his quills raising. Damn it, he couldn't stop the transformation. He didn't even hear Shadow get close to him. Suddenly, he felt himself get grabbed by the shoulders. He automatically began writhing and pushing to get away, but Shadow wouldn't allow it. His hold on him was tight, but not as threatening like before. It was reassuring. It was a safe hold. "Look at me." He said. "Look at me!" He said louder, making Sonic cease his struggles. "Calm yourself. _Relax_."

Sonic's heavy and fast breathing was slowing down at an alarming rate, and he found himself reaching his tranquility. His nerves were settling back in. As he looked in Shadow's now dormant red eyes, he did as he said, and relaxed in his arms. The hands that were pushing against Shadow, were now resting against him. His quills went back down, his brighter lime eyes returned to their former color. His heart was still going but, he didn't know why. As for Shadow, he was feeling the exact same way. Didn't have a clue as to why.

"W-Why can't you just," Sonic stammered. "Why can't you just tell me?"

Shadow rested his head against his shoulder while pulling him closer. Sonic allowed it, and even welcomed it. Hesitantly, the blue one raised his hand up to the elder hedgehog's shoulder and placed his palm on top of it. He caressed it, and let it linger down his arm. Shadow's hands had traveled down onto Sonic's hips, and let them sit there. "Because, now isn't the time for that."

"Shadow-"

"Let me finish." He coldly cut him off while gripping his hands on his body. Even though it was to shut him up, it actually made Sonic's face heat up. "I shouldn't have came onto you like that. I didn't mean to. I...It's complicated." He spoke against his neck in whispers. "I promise, I will tell you when this is all over. But for Chaos sake, listen to me for once." He pleaded. "It's been well over fifteen minutes since we arrived here. We've wasted way too much time over a pointless argument about something even more pointless."

"It's not pointless to me!" Sonic exclaimed.

He smiled against his shoulder. He was glad he couldn't see it. "It makes me content to hear you say that. Still, we will talk later. I swear on Maria's name."

If he was willing to swear on that girl's name, he surely meant business. Sonic was forced to put aside his issues and just suck it up. He had to be patient, something he lacked severely. He blew out a puff of empty air as a sigh while letting his hands fall from Shadow's figure. The ebony hedgehog looked up from his shoulder, looking relieved that Sonic finally backed down. With a satisfied exhale, he turned around. Well, he was going to, until his arm was suddenly caught by Sonic's hand. Dear Chaos, what was it now?

"What is it now, faker-"

He jerked Shadow over to him again. They were much closer than last time, their noses were touching. The hero tilted his head to the side and opened his mouth right as Shadow tried to talk. He pressed his lips against his. There was no hesitation, no waiting. No teasing, no brushing. It was a full on kiss, and their mouths were connected. Shadow couldn't even react, he just stared wide eyed as Sonic kissed him passionately. When he parted the kiss to take in some oxygen, Shadow felt all of his muscles become paralyzed. Sonic then dived back in for more, and kissed the ultimate life form one more time. It was shorter than the first, not lasting as many seconds. Before he parted again, he sucked against Shadow's bottom lip. He let go of his arm and unintentionally licked his lips in a seductive manner with a straight face. "Just so we're even." Sonic simply said. "I don't know why you tried to kiss me. Now you don't know why I kissed you."

With that, Sonic turned his back to his partner and strutted away from him.

Once again, that hedgehog rendered Shadow speechless while he just walked off.

He couldn't even blink. All he could think about was Sonic's lips pushing against his own. His breath was surprisingly very good. Probably thanks to him freshening up earlier. He could taste a hint of pancake batter, with a side of mint. Like toothpaste or gum. He smelled fresh, like flowers and new blossoms. His lips were plump enough to have anyone want more. Then he had the nerve to suck against his lips with his tongue. Shadow awkwardly wiped his mouth and looked at his gloved hand. What'd he give to have that moment replayed over and over.

No, he had to keep those thoughts in check. That wasn't important right now. No matter how appetizing that kiss was. He didn't make a sound, and just turned to walk in the same direction as Sonic. When he caught up with him, he glanced at him and gestured for them to go faster.

Shadow nodded once, and they both sprinted faster than the speed of the sound.

* * *

 **END - 9**

 **Don't forget to review, please. Have a nice day. Anyway, bonus time! Bonus time, bonus time, it's bonus time!**

1\. Scourge was a cause of a _horrendous tragedy_ of his own home world, while Sonic is the cause of constant peace and harmony in his own world.

2\. In Scourge's world, most people are missing, brainwashed, or killed. The mortality rate in Sonic's world isn't that high.

3\. Scourge's world is left in ruin, while Sonic's world still prospers.

4\. Scourge has no problem using swear words, while Sonic is a bit reluctant. But as one can see, he'll swear as much as he wants if he's pissed.

5\. Sonic is able to cook, while it can be assumed that Scourge doesn't have that kind of talent. _However..._

6\. Scourge's father was someone of importance and power, while Sonic's parents are _unheard_ _of._

8\. For Scourge's world, there was a need for a _'Great Peace'._ Sonic's world never pushed to make a cause like that, since it was never _needed._

 _7\. (Similarity) Both Sonic and Scourge have been in relationships before. They both have some experience, and they both also have mostly bad experiences._


	10. Rose Thorns

**10 - Rose Thorns**

* * *

This was crazy, why were there Moebians trying to kill them? After the tragedy that reigned on the city, Sonic was sure no one would be left alive here. The entire place was barren, after all. But, maybe his assumption was right. Those guys, they had to be Scourge's men. And to think, he and Shadow accidentally fought them all off by fighting each other. He felt bad for them a little.

He almost turned into Dark as well. Since they had all seven emeralds with Shadow having one right in his quills, it was more than easy to turn with all the chaos energy around. However, he never did that before. He never made transforming into Dark Sonic a habit. If he reverted, one would probably never see Sonic turn again, because he always had full control of that. Angry or not, he never allowed his body to fall under the entity's influence. Something stunk, and he had a feeling Scourge had something to do with this. Dark Sonic _should not_ be this active. Or, maybe it was his own fault. When he went to the shrines, maybe that caused it to become more active. But if that was the case, then evil Super Sonic would have already been awakened before Scourge even found him. Was that why he found that demon in his head so easily?

Damn it, what was happening?!

"-Are you listening, Faker?" Shadow's voice pierced through his thoughts. Sonic turned to his partner with a sweat drop. He smiled timidly at him while chuckling.

"Heh, sorry. I spaced out there for a sec." He looked up at the dark sky, and saw a tall ancient looking building in the distance.

"As I was saying," Shadow said with a grunt. "I believe that's our destination." He stated, looking at the very same castle as Sonic. So that's where the 'royal king' was, hm? "I don't get it." He muttered.

"Get what?"

"How one single juvenile caused the destruction of an entire city, and soon, the world." Shadow elucidated. "You stated before that your anti-double isn't one to be trifled with and that he shouldn't be compared to the Doctor. However, looking at past incidents, even the Doctor would take months if not years to develop a plan that succeeds in taking over the world, even if you do end up foiling it." The dark one's tone sounded like he was trying to comprehend to the best of his ability how any of this was possible. "It would take high intellect, and far too much expertise in almost every variety of talent there is to pull off. Every single enemy we've ever fought was no simple child. Not some punk dressing teenager with a leather complex. They were always someone who possessed years of knowledge, who spent years advancing their power. And yet, this fool is able to cause complete demolition in less time than the Doctor could ever hope."

He did make a good point, but there was something obviously wrong with what he just said. The answer was right in front of him. "Well, Shadow, think about that for a minute." Sonic said as he began to explain his rebuttal. "Sure our enemies are always plain nasty, and most of the time they're super smart. But sometimes, people who have years and years of experience with battle or knowledge can get bested too. Even if it's someone who's no where near their level." Sonic began to smile to himself. "There's always someone who's better than you, no matter what age or IQ score. That's why I like _you._ " He slyly complimented. "As for Scourge, it doesn't matter. That's like me questioning how _I'm_ able to beat Eggman even though he spends so much time preparing little schemes. It's just cause I came out on top, better than my opponent. Simple as that. 'Cause, if you think about it, you and I could do the same thing." He looked over at Shadow. "We both could easily destroy our world with our powers, but we don't have the heart to do that. And that's why this universe exists. It's like it's teaching us a huge lesson. What would happen if someone with all that power didn't use it for good?"

"While you are correct," The elder of the two replied. "That still doesn't make any sense. Even _you_ need assistance on your little adventures, powerful or not. Tails is your brains, the echidna is your shield, while your pink fangirl is your brawn. Rouge is my shadow, and Omega was my protector. The Doctor's robots were his army. But what about _him?_ He had no one. And according to you, the only person who was on his side was his girlfriend. The very person who he betrayed and turned into a mind slave as well. He's alone."

Sonic's ear twitched at the sound of rustling paper. He turned to the side, and saw it was just torn and dirty piles of forgotten documents flying in the wind. "That's only because of me. Scourge wouldn't have a gang of mindless brutes in black if it wasn't for my powers."

"True, but like you said, this tragic event happened before you even met him. And it's far too much a coincidence that he just so happened to turn crazy and wreak havoc after his father went 'missing', causing the downfall of Moebius all in one swoop." Shadow's tone showed his refusal to believe in such a tale. "I just can't buy that. There must be a bigger organization at work here. He's working for, or with someone."

The hero just shook his head. "Hate to be the one to say 'I told ya so', Shads. I'm telling you, this is all just him." Sonic was also unaffected by Shadow's opinion. He just knew for sure Scourge was the only one responsible. "I mean, this is the opposite world. Maybe...maybe he's a lot smarter than he should be." His tone became eerily quiet, and he suddenly became fearful of his own inference. "Maybe he _does_ have the brain of a mastermind, with an IQ even bigger than Egghead's. I didn't even go to school, and I'm no where near as smart as you or Tails. Maybe that's just another difference between us?"

...Shit.

When he put it like that, their enemy seemed a lot more menacing than before. Then, he thought of his encounter with the bastard. He remembered his 'regal personality', and his 'perverted teacher gimmick' with the glasses. No, he threw that out of the window. He was far too childish to be that deep and clever. "There's no way. No imbecile who acts that immature could secretly be a genius."

"Ehh, to be fair, Eggman's not too bright either. Like I said, he's smart to a point. Maybe Scourge's immaturity's just a small downside, or hell, just part of him being a bit coo-coo." Sonic shrugged. "But, I do see what you're saying. Now that I think about it, even if he was super smart, it wouldn't explain the dumb decisions he made in the past. When I beat him last time, it was only 'cause of his stupidity and his ego. Thank Chaos for that, or else I'd be six feet under right now."

"We'll just have to see for ourselves when we get our hands on him." Shadow concluded. "Who knows, you could be right after all. Maria told me never to judge a book by its cover. That's the mistake I made with you."

Wait, what did he just say? Sonic fluttered his eyes bashfully. "What do ya mean?"

"You're not as annoying or stupid as I initially thought before. While you have your moments, like ten minutes ago, you're more formidable than I realized." He stopped walking when he realized Sonic stopped walking. He looked back at him, and saw that his expression looked blown away. Probably didn't think he'd be complimented by Shadow of all people to such a high extent. "You are cunning, and your strength should be taken into consideration. And though I despise your enormous amount of pacifism, I do respect your sense of justice."

"I..wow, Shadow. That's, really sweet of you to say." Sonic responded in a meek voice. "Guess this is your way of sayin' sorry for earlier, huh?"

Shadow smirked. "You could say that." He looked back up at the castle that stood tall among all other establishments. Towering over the city like a God. "We're very close, and it'll only take us a few minutes to get there if we sprint again."

"Alright, I'm down. We'll race." Sonic got down on one knee in track runner position. With a cocky smile, he briefly looked at Shadow. "Ready?" Seeing him look so excited put a smile on Shadow's face as well. Why not? He stretched his legs and got down on one knee as well. "And," Sonic trailed. Before he could say 'go', Shadow was already gone in a gust of wind. This made Sonic laugh. Just like old times. He bolted from the scene, catching up to Shadow almost instantaneously.

* * *

The forty feet tall stone walls of the castle were rivaling that of Eggman's creations. They were very high up, almost unfairly so. The material used to build the walls, which looked like normal old bricks, were cracked and dusty. Shingles on the cones of hovering castle towers that were connected to the building were falling apart. The colors were, bleak. No color what-so-ever. If there was paint here, it faded away a very long time ago. The dead grass that covered the front of the castle went for yards and yards away. Sonic mentioned on the way that he was actually dropped off not too far from here. To see such a supposedly grand and majestic place forced into ruin, it was just depressing. How could anyone live in such a dump? Then again, being trapped in encapsulation for more than fifty years wasn't all too comfortable either.

And that little bastard lived here? One would think he had better taste with all the flashy punk-rock crap he was wearing.

"Are you...Positive that he resides here?" Shadow questioned doubtfully. Sonic looked straight ahead at the large tall thick wooded castle doors. Wait a second, did they modify it? There were pieces of metal all over it, with some big lock. Probably to secure it. After all, the place was old as dirt. No doubt they needed to upgrade it a bit for precautionary measures.

"Yup. This is the place he carried me too." Yes, the very place that entrapped him. The very place that made him give up his will to live. The place that made him forget who he was, and become a lifeless monster. He sighed to himself. He had to let that go, or else it would bother him all day. "Don't let the outside fool you. It's much less of an eyesore inside. A lot more complex, too."

Shadow said nothing back as he stared at the oddly arranged lock that was installed on the door. One could tell it was placed on the door very recently. He didn't see any way to open it, not even with a key. There was no padlock, no three or four-digit combination lock, nothing. How was one meant to open this? Could it be that he locked it with- _no._ This sudden feeling in his body, made the dark hedgehog blink in surprise. There was no source of chaos energy here. He thought at first that Scourge might have locked it that way, but, no. The energy around this place, it felt just so perverted. What was this?

"Uhh, Shadow? Hellooooo?" Sonic nudged his partner with his elbow lightly to try and get his attention. "You still there?"

"Don't you feel it?" He said, abruptly stopping all of Sonic's movements. Shadow wouldn't even look away. "This, this feeling. It's different from chaos energy."

"Uhhh, nope." The azure one frankly stated. "Don't feel a thing. Actually," He placed a hand on top of his temple, and squinted his eyes in slight pain. "After almost transforming, my entire body feels weird. I can't really sense or feel anything. I can barely feel yours." He groaned in minor exasperation. "I dunno know what's goin' on with me."

"Possibly, your dark form is more active because of all the commotion. It was painfully forced out twice while you were in his 'care'. Not to mention Scourge awakened your other...demonic form. It might be because of its influence. Because of it's abuse, being mind controlled, it may have roused a negative effect on your body, causing it to become more erratic. Thus dulling your senses." While he explained, Shadow wasn't all too sure himself if he was correct or not. "At least, that's my guess. Then again, you mentioned something about a shrine in your home island, and not needing emeralds to perform chaos abilities...You hold most of the chaos emeralds, and you're constantly losing your temper.."

Sonic made a loud fake cough while muttering. "..Hypocrite."

"As I was saying," Shadow scowled. "There's a lot of reasons. Or, maybe it's all of them at once. Point is, there's something drifting around this entire castle like some mist. And it doesn't feel right."

Sonic cruised over to the large double doors that were at least ten feet tall. He leaned towards them and rubbed his fingers against the hard wood, until he balled them into knuckles and knocked against it. The knock echoed for miles around. That's how quiet it was. The next thing they both heard, were the caws of ravens or crows soaring into the air away from the castle. With the 'expired' Moebians around, they weren't too surprised to see them flying here. Paying the bad omen no mind, Sonic looked back at the doors. "Think we can bust it down?"

"I don't think so. I feel like there's some kind of barrier surrounding the entrance." Shadow pretty much stayed in the same spot the entire time they speculated about the damn door. "But perhaps we can disrupt whatever kind of force this is with our own abilities." The black hedgehog took a few steps away from his spot and looked over at Sonic. "That thing you did when we fought, we you turned completely blue and charged at me. Can you do it again?"

Craning his head to look all the way up at his task, he realized that the door and it's little lock mechanisms wasn't all that intimidating. He'd give it a shot. "No prob. Just stand back a bit-"

Without warning, the doors and metal parts installed with it, launched off of its hinges and flown across the skies. It was blown back so high, Shadow could hardly see it anymore. When he whipped his head back to the now empty large door way, he saw an unresponsive Sonic on the cold cobblestone ground. There were pieces of rubble and wood shards all over him and his head was bleeding from the side, near his left ear. Before Shadow could run to his partner, he heard an ear-bleeding giggle. With shaky pink legs, a strange girl dressed in some weird outfit tip toed outside. She was wielding a...A monster of a mallet. A huge, green spiked mallet in her hands, with blue sneakers, a yellow skirt, and a white and green shirt with poofy sleeves. Her fur was pink, with a light peach muzzle. Her quills were styled almost like Sonic's, just shorter, with a red headband. Her expression was the very definition of mentally deranged. Didn't faker say Scourge was crazy? Then what the hell was this?!

She wobbled her way towards Sonic and tilted herself to peer over him. Her light green eyes were going everywhere. Both eyes weren't moving simultaneously with the other like they were supposed to. She was drooling, she was nervously twitching all over. "Y-You're not my Scourgey...Where is he? Where is he!? Oh," Her voiced lowered delightedly. "Oh wait, that's right! I'm so silly, h-how could I ever forget?" She said as her eyes both became red vortexes. Shadow widened his own. Of course. Scourge must have made this girl one of his victims as well. "The voices in my head specifically told meeeee, that any hedgie was a Scourgey! Meaning..!" She started to cry with glee. "You are my Scourgey! You are you are, _yes you ARE!_ " She screamed as she raised the mallet up high over Sonic, who still didn't move a muscle.

Shadow wasted no more time to chaos control beside her and toss his body over hers. He pounced on her before she could strike down, and pinned her against the ground. "Chaos Fibers." He said loudly before stepping away from the girl. Ropes of red chaos energy appeared around and entangled themselves on her. Right after she made a look of bewilderment at the sudden bonds, she squirmed and tried to wiggle herself free, but the bonds only closed in tighter. Shadow took this time to get to Sonic and kneel by his side. He placed his hand underneath his head and upper back, and tried to get him to sit up. He let him rest against his thigh and tried shaking him to wake him up. "Now's really not the time for a dirt nap, faker!" He shook him again. "Get up!" He yelled.

Sonic clutched his eyelids shut, but gradually allowed them to open. He hissed in pain and rose his hand to his head again and cursed. Looks like it was gonna be another crap day. He looked up at Shadow, realizing that he was holding him up by letting him rest against his leg. What an embarrassing position for some hero. He hid away his rosy cheeks. "Heh, thanks." He held out his hand up to him, and Shadow grasped it. He pulled him and himself up on their feet. "That almost knocked me out for good." He heard the struggles of some girl, and looked in front of them to see one of his worst nightmares. He just cursed to whatever God was up there for giving him such a dreadful enemy to deal with. "Oh God..." Sonic wiped the blood from his temple.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at her as she rolled on the ground, trying to get out of his fibers. "She looks very similar to Rose." He glanced at Sonic. "Don't tell me this is her anti-double. Then again, that would explain why you look so stressed out."

"Cause I am." The hero of Mobius prime sighed in anguish. "I'm afraid you're right. That, is the **Anti-Amy**. **Rosy the Rascal** to be more precise." After all these years, that girl never changed her appearance. She really was childish.

"And her opposite persona is..?" With that look in her eyes, he almost didn't want to know the answer. The fibers were starting to break. It couldn't last for too long. And she looked heated, snarling at them like a mutt.

"Know how Amy's a super obsessed fangirl?" He casually asked with slight fear as both he and Shadow took a few steps back.

"Yeah?"

"Well that's Rosy, times a thousand." Sonic continued to describe their new adversary cautiously. "In this world, she's not just some fangirl. She's a stalker with more than just a few screws loose. She makes Scourge seem like a kitten when it comes to insanity. And she doesn't want him like how Amy wants me. She wants to kill him."

" _Kill_ him?"

Sonic nodded quickly. "Yup. She both loves and hates him. Hates him 'cause like me with Amy, he doesn't pay attention to her. But he downright ignores her and threatens her to leave him alone. So she's both pissed and freakishly psychotic. _He_ can't even deal with her by normal means."

"That's why she's like this?"

"Oh no no, she's been like this since before I even met her."

"Well shit." Shadow replied impassively. This day just couldn't get any better. He flinched when he felt the binds break. There was no more time, she'd get up any minute now. And she was. The girl got back up on her feet with an ungraceful stance as she tried tripping her way over to the two male hedgehogs. She managed to get her hammer up from the ground and raise it up with a gum revealing grin. With no more time to spend, she ran full speed towards them. She was surprisingly faster than they anticipated. "Move!" Shadow yelled before side stepping away from her mallet swing.

Sonic ducked for cover as well, but took that time to move behind Rosy instead. He tried to grab her, but she swung with a 360, nearly nailing Sonic right in the head again. He dodged by bending downwards and backing up. She was crazy, but she wasn't dumb. From the corner of his eye, Sonic saw that Shadow was cooking up something nice in his hands. He knew for sure it'd be a chaos spear. With a smirk, he knew that was his sign to act as a diversion. Rosy went and turned to go for Shadow, until Sonic whistled to her. With that red glint in her eyes, she was hopelessly under Scourge's spell. But that meant she was vulnerable to be manipulated. Since the voices in her head thought that any hedgehog she spotted was Scourge, then...

Sonic cleared his throat and prepared his most prestigious voice acting. "Hey Rosy," He made sure his voice was rougher and more husky, matching his double almost perfectly. This made her eyes flicker with emotion, happy that her crush was actually talking to her. At least that's what she thought. "Do me a favor and get lost already, would ya?"

"W-Wha..?" Her face drooped like uncooked dough. "B-But," Then, her sad frown warped into a fuming glower of intense anger. "You, you..!" She repeated with a growl. "If you don't want me, then I have no problems squishing you into green mush. Over, and over and over! I'll smash you good, and then I won't have to hate you anymore! I'll just love what's left of you!" She started to laugh hysterically. " _Ahahaha!_ I'll love you _so_ much! Then you'll be happy!"

This was starting to sound super familiar. Hell, maybe Rosy rubbed off on Scourge. With a sweat drop, Sonic prepared himself. With a war cry, she swung at Sonic with all her might. When he hopped out of the way, she destroyed part of the ground, and had to yank her hammer out from the hole she made. She recovered quickly however, and ran while swinging at him again. The male hedgehog dodged in the opposite spots of her swings. She was so predictable, he just moved from side to side while speed walking backwards. He even put his hands on his hips and moved them hypnotically as if he was dancing. This was annoying her, so she moved even faster with her attacks striking even harder. Sonic has no problem matching her speed. She was getting a bit creative though.

She swung for more upper areas, Sonic had to move his head left and right. She swung at his shoulders and arms, making him lean to the side. Before she could make another failed attempt, he slid her arm against her own and gripped the stick of her mallet. She wouldn't let go, but he wasn't planning on taking it. With the other free hand, he made his own failed attempt to grab her, not wanting to have to punch her. She nearly got seized but moved her quills away just in time. Seeing how successful that move was, Sonic took both of his hands and shoved it down into the base of the hammer. While Rosy gasped in surprised, Sonic shoved the hammer's stick into the ground. He then grasped the handle of it like a pole with one hand, and twirled himself around it with his leg kicking outwards that was heading right for her.

He punted her right in the face and got her off of the bludgeoning weapon. She yelped as she fell on her back a few feet away from Sonic and her hammer. She screamed in anger, pounding her fists into the ground as a tantrum. She got back up on her hands and knees, soon her feet. She made a bee-line for Sonic and tried hitting him with everything she had. He dodged effortlessly with her hammer now out of her clutches. He just kept dodging around it, basically playing peekaboo with her. When she tried to swing at him with a right hook, he just hopped on top of her green weapon with his legs crossed. He waved at her with a smile, taunting her. Growling even more, she took her hands and seized the hilt of her weapon.

With a huff, she lifted it out of the ground, with dead roots of plants falling from the end tip of it. Sonic looked down below, not thinking that'd she actually lift both him and the hammer too. When she swung it to get him off, Sonic kick flipped off of it and landed right on her arms. He tried to land as softly as he could so he couldn't hurt her too much. As she tried wringing him off of her limbs, he just did another flip onto her hammer and proceeded to do a brief break dance on top of it so his feet could do the attacking. His body weight was making her lose balance, and her body dipped down low while turning her head away so his feet didn't kick her. But once he raised a leg in the air and did a twirl with his entire body to do another flip, he landed on her arm with a hand stand. Both hands gripped her arm tight to balance himself, and swiped his leg to kick her hammer from her hands again.

It tossed away like a tomahawk and stopped by impacting the castle wall. Sonic swung his leg down and ax kicked her in the head while letting go of her. He landed on his feet, while she fell on her butt. She threw her hands to her head and writhed in agony. Payback was a bitch. When she made a move to get up, Shadow intervened. "Chaos Spear!" He threw his hand towards her, directing the arrows to her. They aimed and pointed, raining down on her. She looked away and whimpered, until she realized they only scratched her. The arrows were tearing through her clothes, and pinned them down against the ground so she couldn't move. She could always just rip out of them, but they were sure she didn't want to be seen indecent. She was exhausted anyway. So she just gave up with a pant and laid limp against the ground.

"Phew." Sonic exhaled in relief. He was glad they were done with her. Shadow joined his side and stood over their work.

"It took a while because I needed to charge them, so they could last for a while. Good work." He complimented. Sonic smiled at him but didn't retort back. He was just happy that he didn't have to deal with her for now. "Didn't realize you were so flexible and agile." Shadow walked over to the large gaping opening to the castle. Sonic smirked to himself and followed.

"I mean, I do dance."

"True." The ultimate life form crossed his arms and stood a few feet inside of the castle. The main hall was dark. The old torches that were put here died out ages ago. The red carpet that laid for royalty to walk upon was wrinkled and torn. He couldn't even see where the hall led to, because it just led to darkness. All he could do was trust in Sonic's memory of the place. "Guide us to where we need to go, faker."

* * *

"I don't get it! There were guys in black everywhere, I swear!" Sonic cried as he walked up the large second set of spiral stairs. "There were guys on the stairs, in the dining hall, in the friggin' bathrooms. They were all over the place, and now everybody's gone?" He asked out loud. While they walked through the building stealthily, they noticed that no on was here. The dining hall was empty, the kitchen was empty, the bathrooms were empty. They couldn't find anyone anywhere, and it seemed like the place was abandoned too. They could tell someone was here recently, because there were belongings of others littered around. They even checked the lab that was in the basement, which held very few weapons and ammunition. They even checked the throne room, and it was empty. They were now traveling up to the third floor where the bedrooms were, and where the torture room was.

"They left somewhere, out of no where." Shadow said aloud in wonder. Where would they even go? Even if they did go to Mobius Prime, Rouge would have tried to call him. When they passed by the lab, there were some larger warp rings on standby that stood against the walls, hooked up to machines. They must have been used not too long ago. When Shadow made a move to take another step, he felt something push against him from the front. He stopped in his tracks and looked down below him. He practically jaw dropped over what he saw, even though it was so out of his character, so he forced himself not to.

"Oops! Sorry Shads. My damn shoes are a bit loose. Hold on a sec." He was bent down in front of Shadow, his backside upright with his face down at the stairs. His tail flicked against Shadow's lower abdomen, his arse laying against him. He could see himself hovering his hands over his blue cheeks, and grabbing them. Touching them, rubbing them. It was so round and-

"Ahem." Shadow looked somewhere else. "Would you mind getting yourself off of me?"

"Hm?" Sonic stood up and looked from behind, seeing what Shadow was talking about. "Oh! Sorry, sorry." He stepped away by going up a few steps. "Come on, there's only a few more places where he might be." With that, he pressed on without looking back. Shadow closed his eyes and told himself to uphold his temperance.

They checked the bedrooms, the guest rooms and the master bedrooms. They checked the bathrooms on this floor as well, and they were on their way to the torture room. When Sonic got closer to the room, he was becoming slower and slower. The room had a lone black metal door. Sonic just stopped moving and just leaned and slumped against the wall. His expression became discouraged, and he just looked down with his face darkened. His arms were hugged on each other below his chest, and he didn't get any closer to that door. Shadow saw how uncomfortable he looked about that door, and assumed that going inside with him was out of the question. This was the place where Scourge tormented Sonic.

He tried making a small laugh and a grin, but it was lopsided and fake. "Just yell if he's in there, alright? I'll come runnin'." His face drifted back downwards, and his fake smile vanished. "Go on...without me. I'll stay out here..." His tone, was dark.

Shadow didn't like that at all. He frowned at this. "..Are you fine out here by yourself?"

"Yeah." Sonic replied quickly.

Shadow knew he wouldn't get anywhere with him if he tried talking to him. Besides, he couldn't blame him. Shadow was no stranger to physical torture, but not like that. What Sonic went through was a complete mind fuck of suffering. He wouldn't wish that upon anyone, except for Scourge. "Very well." He agreed to his choice and entered the room. When he used the handle to open it, he had to use a bit of force. It was a little heavy. When he got in, he recognized everything Sonic described to him. But what really set it off in this room, was the HOME SWEET HOME sign, and metal chair. Yup, this was the place alright.

It was definitely used not too long ago. He even smelled a very faint aroma of Sonic's natural scent. His organic smell of flowers, but it was masked with something else. It surely wasn't Sonic's scent, and it smelled like heavy cologne. Now that he thought about it, Scourge did wear some kind of noxious perfume when they first met at Tails' house. Everyone was so rattled up, they didn't even notice. Also, Shadow felt something weird here. The same feeling he felt when they were at the front doors. Then, the bed that was in the back was a mess. Someone slept there a while ago, and it was probably Sonic. Other than that, he didn't find any traces of evidence that anyone was here. Scourge and his little gang really was gone.

But, under that bed, something was there. He saw a small streak of orange. What was that?

"Ngh! Hands off, asshole!" That was Sonic's voice from down the hall. Shadow skated himself out of the room and peered over to where Sonic was previously. Three bulky Moebians in black cornered him and had him pinned against the wall. One was a wolf, the second was a bear, and the last was someone who was slightly smaller. Some kind of hawk, who had Sonic in a choke hold. Of course he'd get himself into trouble when he left him alone. That still didn't excuse the fact that they were putting their hands on his ally. That wouldn't go unpunished.

Shadow advanced towards the three and had his fists ready. When he was close enough, he went for the bear first. He reached up and grasped his hand into the back of his shirt and yanked him down to his level. The Moebian in black looked back with a shocked expression, until he felt the back of his head fur get in a grip lock with Shadow's fingers. Since Shadow was shorter, it was actually craning both his back and neck in a very unusual position. Shadow retracted his arm, before ramming it back in the direction to the wall. He smashed the bear's face into the wall and did it more than once with strong blows. The other two Moebians backed away from Sonic when they saw their fellow member get his face destroyed. With one last smash, Shadow snatched his hand off of him, and glared at the other two.

The hawk was furious, but he was dumb. This would be over in a second. He recklessly tried throwing punches at the hedgehog, but Shadow was breezing by them. He threw another punch, and Shadow caught his arm in his hand. He pulled and tossed the lackey down onto the dusty floor. He stomped his foot onto his back and repeated the action, making his opponent continuously groan in pain. His next and final stomp landed on the back of his head, knocking him out instantly and shutting him up for good. The final underling of Scourge's seemed to panic. He just winced from Shadow's death glare and charged at him. When the red-eyed Prime Mobian stepped aside, he caught the wolf by the collar of his stupid black outfit. He rose him up from his feet and dragged him away. Sonic just sat against the wall and watched with dilated eyes as Shadow went down the hall to the spiral staircase where they came from.

His blue ear twitched as he heard some pleas and cries for help, but then he cringed. Because he heard the sound of a bone snapping, and the slamming and thuds of something heavy falling down the stairs. He heard some footsteps and watched Shadow return to him once again with a small amount of blood on his glove. He looked up at him and raised a brow. "He's not dead, right?"

"No." Shadow inadvertently replied. He looked down at Sonic and crossed his arms. "Hurt?"

"No." Sonic said back.

"Then get up." His tone was entirely indifferent. Probably because he had to save Sonic's butt a second time today. Sonic sucked his teeth and got up on his own.

"Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Both their ears flicked against something coming from the open torture room. It sounded like moaning, like someone was in there having a hard time. Shadow was perplexed, he thought no one was in there. The two hedgehogs looked at each other briefly before moving into the room instantly. They looked around for the source of the noise, seeing exactly what Shadow saw before, nothing. There was nothing and no one here, so why were they hearing something? And there it was again. Sonic saw something in the back of his vision, and looked back at the bed. He motioned for Shadow to follow, and slowly moved over to the messy bed. The sheets that covered the side moved like curtains. There was something underneath.

Sonic squatted down, and rose his hand up to the cascaded sheets. He slowly lifted them up and lowered his head to look under. Shadow was right beside him, and felt that weird feeling from earlier grow even stronger.

What or who was in here?

* * *

 **END - 10**

 **Reviews are nice. Thank you to the few who constantly do it with every post.**

 **Also, there's only one bonus trait for this chapter.**

1\. Scourge doesn't just ignore Rosy, he mistreats her very badly when she annoys him. With Amy, Sonic tries his best to keep his patience with her, and not to hurt her feelings even when she irritates him.


	11. Miles To No Zone

**11 - Miles To No Zone**

* * *

A yellowish-orange fox with grey swerved up hair, and a red and gray looking uniform emerged from underneath the bed before Sonic could unveil it completely. He crawled out, but lost feeling in his hands and arms, falling flat on his face. He was small just like his little brother. He was moaning and mumbling in what sounded like, pain. He was really weak, and he couldn't even hold himself up. Instantly recognizing the vulpine, Sonic hurried over and knelt down to help him up to his feet.

"Miles, that you?" He asked softly. "Can you hear me?"

The little fox couldn't respond, he just grimaced as he tried to open his eyes. When he tried moving his leg, he cried out and hissed. Sonic quickly placed him back down to the floor and made him sit instead. Sonic sat beside him, while still making sure he could sit up. Shadow just peered at this fox with a questionable glare. "Isn't that Tails' real name?" He felt the weird energy get even stronger as he was just talking. "He looks similar to him, so this has to be his anti-double, right?"

Sonic nodded wearily. He didn't like the look of this. "Yeah. This is him."

"Let me guess, he hates Scourge as well."

"Right again, Shads." The blue hedgehog propped his body against the wall, and gently let go of Miles. They should probably get him on the bed. "Tails and I are basically brothers, and I love the little guy. I know he feels the same for me too, but _these_ guys...They despise each other, and they both would love to see each other get killed." Sonic stood up and walked over to the messy bed to fix it up a bit. Not make it tidy, but nice enough so that the little fox won't wake up with a crook in his neck. "While Tails does misbehave once in a while, Miles is a complete rebel. He hates being taken care of, he hates being dependent on anyone. And he hates anything that may seem 'childish', like having the nick name Tails for instance. When I called him that the first time I met him, he nearly cut me, haha." The blue one made a small laugh at old times. "He's way too serious, super picky, a complete coward and treacherous at that. And while Tails and I respect each other, he just loathes Scourge. And, he's terrified of him."

Shadow picked up on what Sonic was trying to do, so he gave a hand to help. He picked up the fox in his arms and placed him down onto the soft mattress. When he laid him down, the child began to toss and turn.

"M-Make it stop...Perimeter...field.." He rambled unconsciously. This made Shadow widen his eyes. If this was the anti-Tails, and if Tails-prime had extreme intellect in mechanics-

Sonic put his hand out on top of the fox's head. "I got an idea." He suddenly said as blue energy gathered in his palm. It glowed against the child's temple, and soon engulfed him entirely. The boy woke up and sat up straight while looking around with a start. His eyes were briefly red swirls, but then disappeared from the blue energy. Sonic made it disperse in his hand, satisfied with the results. He had a feeling that'd work.

"H-Huh?!" Miles was startled. "W-Who are you!?" He shouted at Shadow, but then he saw Sonic right beside him and made a look of fear. "You!" He scooted away from him in the bed backwards until he hit the wall behind him. "Get away!" He demanded.

The hero of Mobius sighed. "We're not here for you, squirt."

Miles scowled at the nick name as an insult. "How dare you..What do you want from me?"

"A thank you would be nice." Sonic replied impudently with a frown.

"Wait, it was you that woke me up?" He scratched his yellow head, his ice blue eyes looking down at the bed. "All I remember is that green snotty bastard beating me into a pulp and throwing me in here. Then he used some kind of red thing in my eyes. Speaking of which," He looked up at the two hedgehogs. "He's gone, right?"

Shadow stared at the Tails double with great interest. "The king isn't present, including his band of the thieves. You're safe, for now."

Sonic sat at the foot of the bed. "What else did he do? Do you remember anything else?"

Miles bit his lip, looking frightened at something. Was it something in this room? Did he fear Scourge would pop out at any moment? "He put me in here, and kept repeating over and over to have the castle doors locked with magic. Then he kidnapped that demented pink shrew, and put her in the front of the castle to act as a guard dog while he was gone. Made her think anyone who was a hedgehog was _him_ , so she would try and kill them." He narrowed his eyes. "He did say you two would try to come. Sonic and someone black with red stripes."

This made Sonic rolls his eyes. Of course he would predict that they would come, but why run away? And why leave these two on guard duty?

"Magic?" Shadow asked with wonder. "That energy that I couldn't comprehend on the front doors, that was you?"

Miles scoffed while crossing his arms. "Are you that pathetically ignorant? Of course it was me. I'm the only one in this world who's able to use magic at all. Are you not aware of our heritage? Foxes with more than one tail have magical capabilities." He swished his two tails around in a propeller at the mention of them.

Ignoring his insults, Shadow hit the nail in the head. "Of course, _kitsunes_." He looked over at Sonic with a confused expression. "Why doesn't Tails possess these abilities?"

Before Sonic could reply, Miles butted in with his own smart remark. "Because that fool wasn't born with our powers like he should have, but instead clings to those filthy things he calls machines." He sneered and laughed. "What a clod. Turning to the predictability of machines when magic is obviously the superior."

The hero wasn't all too impressed by this. He looked bored of this, actually. He glanced over at Shadow and made a flat line with his mouth. "So yeah, those opposite traits. I feel like I forgot to mention arrogant as all living hell."

"More like vainglory." Shadow pointed out. "But the both of you are still both intelligent. Meaning, you're the third party I suspected." He walked closer to the bed, making Miles flinch. "You have to be the brains in all this. I knew he couldn't have been the mastermind. It all makes perfect sense. He was probably the brawn, but double crossed you at the last minute by brainwashing you."

The yellow Moebian looked between the hedgehogs back and forth before making a smirk. " _Your_ Miles only has knowledge in mechanics and technology, while I have intellect in magic and political power. I don't blame you for thinking that. But," His smirk began to dull. "While I wish I had a hand in tormenting you morons back in your world, I'm afraid I had nothing to do with this." After he said that, Sonic moved close to Shadow and playfully elbowed him in the arm with a smirk of his own.

"Told ya so."

Miles continued. "This is all his doing. I know where he is, and I know some of what he's planning as well. He gloated his plans to me right before he did that weird red thing."

Sonic leaned back against the bed posts and crossed his legs. "Alright, so where's his majesty and his knights?"

The fox relaxed himself and looked down at the sheets. He squinted his eyes angrily, wishing he could have stopped Scourge from doing what he did. He wished he could have gotten his revenge. He felt so foolish that he let him take advantage of him like that. " _The Perpendicular Zone, No Zone._ "

" _What!?_ " The blue one exclaimed, standing up from the bed immediately, making both Miles and Shadow look at him with stunned faces. "W-Why, _why_ would he go to No Zone?"

Miles tried to pay his reaction no mind. "When you beat his lackeys into nothing the last time you were here," Ah, he meant when Scourge first captured him. "He realized he needed better equipment. Apparently, he was given knowledge from Fiona who acted as a spy, that the Zone Cops got new upgrades. So, he planned a fake attack on No Zone Prison as a diversion to kidnap some of their soldiers to study their armor."

Sonic threw his hands to his head. "Holy crap, I'm such a freakin' idiot!" He yelled to the ceiling.

"Well I'm glad you finally came to terms with yourself-"

Sonic glowered at him before he could even finish that taunt. "Shut it, kid." He growled with a death glare. It did its intended effect, and it made Miles shut right up and look somewhere else. He didn't want to say that he hated Miles, but he surely didn't like him. He couldn't hate someone who looked like his best buddy. However, now wasn't the time to piss him off.

"What is No Zone, faker?" Shadow quietly asked beside him. Sonic blew out a puff of stressful air and ran his hand through his long blue quills.

"Remember when I said I had a close friend who told me everything he knew about Moebius?"

"Yes?" The black hedgehog's tone was trying to gesture for Sonic to go further.

"Well, he's not from this world, or ours. But he's from No Zone. And No Zone is an alternate world like this one."

Shadow promptly held up his hands and shook his head. " _Hell_ no." He was not having it. He was damned if he had to deal with more than two Sonics.

Shadow's reaction to that was almost funny. He laughed nervously. "No no no no no, he's not another anti. That world is totally different, I promise you. Most of them are real good people." He assured. "Almost everyone who has a job in that world is a zone cop, or has some kind of public service duty. They work for their people and protect them, and they make sure nothing crazy happens between other worlds and arrest super dangerous criminals from all kinds of places." He smiled with pride and pointed to himself. "But _my_ friend's an elite over there. We should have went to him in the first place! He's arrested Scourge more than once before."

Miles just rolled his eyes. "There's one underneath the bed right now...Threw his body there along with mine..." He muttered, but no one paid attention to him.

Huh, a soldier-like version of Sonic? Even more interesting. "While this is great news, you couldn't have remembered that sooner?"

"Shadow, if I wanted to be bitched at, I would have stayed in Mobius with Tails and Amy."

"Language."

"Whatever. Anyway, that's where we should go next. There's no way Scourge could beat both us, _and_ the zone cops. We're sure to beat him!"

Miles cut in as he tried to wobble out of bed. His body still didn't feel right. "Yup. In fact, if you were smart, you'd leave right now."

"Huh?" Sonic blinked. "Wait, why?"

"Scourge already knew you would pull something. Said something about you going super or whatever. So he packed a hidden part underneath his throne with loads of anarchy beryl. If he goes super along with that strange power, you both don't stand a chance, trust me. That monstrous ability is making him stronger every second he breathes." The vulpine in the red and gray uniform placed one hand on the wall to help him move. "He should be returning any moment now. He left to attack No Zone almost a week ago, and he should be done by now. If he catches you two in here...I'm sure you can imagine the consequences."

The hero groaned in annoyance and self threatened to pull his quills out. "Daaaamn iiiit," He seethed. He was in bed that whole time, wallowing in his own nightmares! He could have stopped Scourge, and he completely missed the chance. But it was just like he said before. Even if they did confront him, it wouldn't have been enough for Scourge. It was too easy to just go Super, because obviously Scourge already had a plan up his sleeve to counteract both him _and_ Shadow.

"...Maybe..I don't think he'll return today," Miles said suddenly while looking at Sonic's distressed expression. "He was supposed to, but he's late. I know for sure he'll return tomorrow at the very least. So you two better do whatever you have to do here, and leave while you still can." He looked at Shadow as well. "They may have cleared the dining hall, but there's still some extra food in the pantry. Go there and steal some. There's a bed and breakfast place going west that's not too far from here as well, and it hasn't been destroyed yet. Use that to rest and get out of here by morning." He took his hand off the wall and tested his balance to see if he could stand correctly. His body was sore, but he could walk okay again. "I assume Miles-Prime made a warp ring for you?"

"Uh, yeah but-" Sonic stammered.

"There are coordinates in the lab on one of the warp rings that lead to No Zone, if you truly plan on going there. Use that on your own ring to get there when you're both ready." He advised carelessly. Shadow raised a brow.

"And why are you helping us?"

"If you two have the potential to kill Scourge, I'll swallow my pride and happily help you in any way I can." His face when dark when he said that, and his tone matched it. So this was what Sonic meant earlier. Those two really did hate each other. Nothing but pure hatred. "When you have a tyrant like that in your life, childish things such as 'brotherhood' don't exist." Miles then brushed past this and changed the subject. "When you both travel to No Zone, I will find a way to get in touch with you. Until then, get out of here, _now_." The child ordered while pointing to the door. Shadow and Sonic looked at each other again, both seeming to have the same thoughts in mind. They watched as he looked around the room, probably looking for anything useful here.

"..Um, thank you, Miles." Sonic almost whispered. He couldn't believe he was actually thanking him. Miles just scowled and looked away while flagging them both off. Feeling his parental instincts go off the radar, he said one final thing. "Don't get yourself killed, and don't do anything stupid." He advised sternly. Sonic took a few steps backwards before turning around to walk out the door. Shadow let his eyes linger on Miles for a while, but soon joined his partner through the exit of the room.

Miles with his back still turned, sighed to himself. So that's why Scourge had such an attraction to Sonic. It was because even in the end, he still cared for people. Even if they were enemies from the past. He almost wished he had someone like that.

He always knew that Tails had all the luck.

Without wasting anymore time, they went off to the pantry in the dining hall. They grabbed only what they needed, enough food to get by the night. Sonic had swiped a blanket from one of the bedrooms, and stuffed the food in there like a makeshift sack. Shadow had put the food in small containers so that they wouldn't get damaged from the trip. After that, they scurried to the lab that was in the bowels of the castle where the large warp rings lied. Shadow had checked the coordinates through the machines they were hooked up to, but Sonic said there was no need. When the hero took a small quick glance at them, he said he could memorize it no problem and that he could take them there with his chaos.

After double checking to make sure no one else was around to stop them from escaping the lone castle, they treaded up the stairs to get back to the front doors on the ground floor. They assumed no one would be waiting for them, and Shadow was sure Rosy was still knocked out, even with his chaos spears gone. But right as they were about to get to the main floor, Sonic remembered something.

 _"There's one underneath the bed right now...Threw his body there along with mine..."_ Wait a minute, Miles mentioned that there was a body underneath the bed with him while he was held captive? The body of a zone cop? And they completely gleamed over that!? Sonic bonked himself in the head. He made a sharp turn and hurried past Shadow.

"Shads, we gotta make a U-turn! Stat!"

"What are you on about now?" Shadow grumbled. He followed him anyway, back in the same direction they came from. The direction of the hall where the torture room was. Sonic nearly tripped in his steps, that's how fast he moved to that room. He entered without warning, not caring if Miles was still there or not. And, he wasn't. Sonic searched the room with his eyes, scanning top to bottom, but the little one just wasn't here. How did he leave so quickly? Or did he go to another room while they got the food? As much as Sonic hated to say this, he hoped he was okay. He was still a kid at the end of the day, no matter how much he despised him. Shadow joined the hero seconds after, and questioned just what he was up to. "What is it, hedgehog?" He pressed. "We need to leave, now."

"Just a second." Sonic answered dismissively. He got down on his knees and crawled towards the bed. He looked underneath the sheets once again, and saw a body. It was tucked all the way against the back of the wall, but it didn't seem like a zone cop. This person wore no uniform. Strange. Sonic reached his arm out and stretched it far enough to reach one of their limbs. It was pretty dark under here, so he couldn't make out who it was, or even their fur color. He just grabbed the nearest thing that felt like an arm or leg, and pulled. With a grunt, he managed to get the body out from under the bed. He stood up and looked down to see who it might be.

Both he and Shadow were taken back by this person. Because they looked exactly like the ultimate life form.

"H-How in the..?!" Sonic couldn't even begin to finish his wording. He was too distracted at trying to figure out why another Shadow was here. His dark partner was doing the same, just looking at the body up and down. This person had black and red striped fur, quills just like Shadow's, tan muzzle, white chest fur. Hell, he even had similar looking shoes. "Miles said there was another body here but, it's _him_? Who is this?"

"I was about to ask you that. You seemed to know everything about this place."

"No, I have no idea who-" A light bulb shattered above his head. Wow, his idiot streak just kept going and going today, wasn't it? "Holy crap, this guy is a zone cop. Meaning, he works with my friend. Scourge must have captured him somehow, too! And I don't think he's dead either." Sonic lifted the sack of food over to Shadow and looked across at him. "Trust me, this guy is important, I feel it. I need you to carry the goods while I carry him."

"You sure you can handle that?" Shadow asked as he lifted the sack onto his shoulder behind him.

"Positive. I think." Sonic bent down to pull and hold up the fellow hedgehog, and he struggled a bit thanks to the weight, but ended up managing.

* * *

They both ran or skated out of the large gray castle. They saw on their way out that Rosy and her hammer were gone as well, which was odd. They thought she'd be out for hours, but, somehow she must have got up and left on her own. Shadow's chaos spear might have woken her up from Scourge's control, so when she woke up, she was confused and just wanted to leave. Who knew?

They ran to the west, across dirty cracked roads of nothingness. Passing by abandoned apartments and stores, dead tree branches and city animals. They even passed a children's park, that was almost creepy to look at. Swing sets were coming to and fro, with no one sitting in them. Was it the wind pushing them? Broken slides stood still in eeriness. A rusted metal part on the monkey bars fell off and just rolled away. A raven sat atop the swinging tire that was hung below a thick bare tree, and more ravens perched themselves on the branches.

They were watching them.

The atmosphere was...Sonic couldn't even say. He was just glad that they ran away. But when he saw that it was a playground, he remembered how he used to take Tails there when they were little. He remembered how people would tease him for being 'gifted' with two tails. He also remembered how Sonic yelled at them, going on and on about how amazing he and his namesakes were. Sonic normally didn't talk that much back then, but he sure gave them what for that day. And, he realized, that Miles would never have that. He would never feel the joy or love of having a guardian to look up to and care for him. He sadly smiled to himself as he and Shadow traveled to an even more empty street.

This place was isolated from all the rest, only being connected by one street. And, Miles was right. The bed and breakfast place was abandoned as well, but it looked okay. It seemed to be some kind of safe haven among the other places here. It wasn't falling apart, not yet. Sonic and Shadow skidded to a stop in front of the homey looking building. The colors on it were bland, probably faded away, but it still looked good enough for them. Sonic shifted the Shadow double's weight on his back, huffing as he carried him inside.

The door was unlocked, and Sonic walked right in. Shadow did the same while carrying their bag, examining the house thoroughly. The kitchen was raided, the living room had no furniture. Faded marks in the carpet where chairs used to be, were permanent scars for these floors. They cleared this place out too. He walked next to Sonic through the house, and saw that he looked troubled. Lately, he's always looked like that. "Something on your mind?"

"It's nothing." Sonic responded.

"You didn't want to take him with us, did you?"

"Of course not. Just like Tails, Miles can handle himself." He saw the stairs to the second floor and began to climb up them with the body on his back. "Ngh. I just wish that he wasn't the dark side of him. Like how I wish Scourge wasn't the dark side of me." He said in a saddened tone. "Anyone who lives here is most likely the person their prime self doesn't want to be, or fears to become. I'm just thankful that no one in our world is like this. That our world isn't in shambles."

Shadow tried to shift his depressing way of thinking. It just wasn't like him at all. "But it could be if we don't act. Seriously faker, you need to stop speculating so much."

"Ha," Sonic bitterly chuckled. "You're right. It's not doin' this world any good anyway."

The dark one exhaled silently. He walked down the second floor hallway with him. This was where the bedrooms and bathrooms were, obviously. They just had to find one. "Precisely. Perhaps when you see your friend in this No Zone world, you'll stop that nonsense. After all, there's nothing you can do about a world that gives life to evil and cowards."

"But," Sonic stopped in his tracks and stared at Shadow with his green eyes. " _No one_ is born evil, Shadow."

"..." Shadow didn't say anything directly to that. He just wanted to change the subject at this point. "I'm sure your stomach's growling. Let's just find a room already."

After a while of walking around, they realized that all the beds were either stolen, or way too repulsive to lay on. There was only one room, one single room that had a perfectly stable bed that didn't reek of piss or blood stains. Not only that, but this room wasn't empty. It had furniture and stuff in it. It had a small sofa, along with a fair-sized bed. Probably a queen size. There was a dresser and even a small old TV. It didn't seem like it worked, though. There were pictures on the dresser, neatly leaning against the wall with torn notebook paper and pens on top. There was a closet as well, that was cracked open. The walls were void of any paint color, but they could still make out that this room used to be a nice white. The floors were hardwood, but not glossy like they used to be. There were no lights, it was dark here. And there were some used melted candles on the floor, too. There was one window, with the glass in it broken to shards.

Sonic lifted the body up from his back and carefully placed it down on the sofa. He breathed a sigh of relief and stretched his muscles. That guy wasn't light at all. Shadow placed the sack of food next to the bed and walked over to the closet. When he slid open the doors, he saw nothing but old black clothing here. "What the...?"

Sonic looked over Shadow's shoulder to see, and made a small gasp. There was a black jacket with little red flames on the sleeves. This was Scourge's. And there were other black pieces of clothing as well, among very few formal clothes. Did Scourge make this place his little hide out? Then, Sonic walked over to the dresser that held notes. He picked them up and looked over them, and saw that whoever wrote this, wrote in perfect cursive. Tails said that when Scourge was disguised as Sonic, he wrote to Tails in cursive just like this. Shadow went next to him and pulled out some drawers. There were thick books in these drawers too, complicated ones. But one stood out.

"Isn't this Tails' book?" The ebony hedgehog asked. Sonic peeked inside, and saw the cover. _Theoretical Physics._ Holy Chaos, this _was_ Tails' book. Scourge stole it. He was _reading_ it. But why? And how was he of all people able to read crap like this? Why would he even want to?

Then, Sonic looked at the notes he was holding up. He could read it, but barely. Scourge's cursive was almost cryptic, too perfect for his eyes. When he skimmed over one page at a time, he realized that Scourge was writing equations and drawing models of armor of some kind. These were so weird to read, it made Tails' notes look like child's play. Shadow asked to take a look, so Sonic handed them over. Shadow's ruby eyes looked all over the pages. "These are schematics of armor, and some sort of device. The anti-Tails did mention that Scourge was planning to make new equipment for his entourage. But these are very impressive. I can't even understand half of it."

"Yeah but, Scourge? I can't believe he wrote and drew stuff like this. That he _reads_ this stuff."

"Perhaps that is just one more opposite trait." Shadow scowled. "And unfortunately, you may have just proved me wrong severely. It may be true that this bastard really is secretly a genius. And that's _bad_."

"Well that's just friggin' great..." Sonic groaned in exasperation and just fell backwards on the bed. It was still soft, but he could smell Scourge's cologne. It was faint, but that meant he was recently here before. Even better, they were sleeping in their enemy's bed. Just great. "I don't wanna think about that creep anymore. What are we gonna do about sleep? This is the only bed that's inhabitable."

Shadow almost laughed at his particular wording. But this was a bit of a dilemma. It's not like they could share it, even if they both could fit. He put down the notes back where they were and turned around to face the bed, where Sonic was scooting himself over. "What are you doing?"

"We're gonna have to share, I guess."

"..." Again, Shadow said nothing. The glare on his face did all the talking.

Sonic pouted. "Aw come on Shadow! Your look-alike already took the sofa, and we can't sleep on the floor."

"I'll sleep on the floor no problem-"

"No way! You wanna sleep on these crummy floors? It might fall under ya."

Sadly, he was right. Shadow sighed and closed his eyes. It would only be one night. Only one night would he do this. Shadow lightly bent forward and proceeded to reach down and take off his shoes. Sonic did the same, making a small smile. The two sat on the bed together, eating the food they brought with them. It wasn't bad, but it didn't beat Ms. Vanilla's cooking, or Rouge's. When they filled up, they just put their trash somewhere in the room. It wasn't like there was a trashcan here. It was getting late, so they soon went to bed.

The hero pulled off the covers and got underneath them. He made sure to relax his quills so he'd be able to lay on the pillows without shredding them to bits. Shadow refused to look at Sonic as he got into bed with him. He didn't dare move any closer to him either. He just stared at the wall while getting under the sheets, his back facing him. He dulled the edges of his quills as well, so he wouldn't wake up with a bloody Sonic next to him.

Sonic looked up at the ceiling, still smiling. This was nice, a little. The sky was getting even darker, and they were sure it was night time. It was strange how fast time passed. The hero could have sworn that they left for Moebius in the morning, and arrived at the castle at least by afternoon. Perhaps the time in this world was different too. He closed his eyes and folded his hands on top of his stomach. He hoped Tails and the others were doing okay. All that was left to do now was go to sleep and rest.

But not yet. Sonic opened one eye in the direction of his partner. "Hey, you awake?" He whispered.

"I am." Shadow muttered.

"Thought you didn't need sleep, or food?"

"I don't, but using chaos energy makes me tired after a while. Food helps replenish that, along with rest." The striped hedgehog made a grumpy expression. "Which I'd like to have, if someone wouldn't keep interrupting me."

"Well too bad, cause I got one more question for ya." Sonic scooted himself closer to Shadow's side, making the other open his eyes. The blue hedgehog looked over at Shadow's back. "You promised me that you'd tell me why you tried to kiss me the other day."

The ultimate life form sat up and turned to Sonic with lowered eyes. "I said when this was all over I'd tell you."

"Yeah, and it is. We're done with the castle." Sonic smirked at his loop hole. "You weren't very specific, so you better start talkin'."

Shadow growled, stubbornly looking away and moving to lay back down. "Damn you to hell..." He grumbled. He did promise him, and he did it on Maria's name. He didn't have a choice. "I don't know why I did it." He admitted. "You were vulnerable. At first, I was only trying to help you the same way you helped me. But, looking at your face like that, told me to do more."

"..What do you mean?" Sonic asked quietly.

Shadow fidgeted a bit, his gloved fingers lightly gripping the sheet below them. "I...Let's just say, I see why people are attracted to you, now."

"H-Huh?" Sonic's cheeks grew red.

"You're, a lot more than what I thought. I thought you were just some arrogant idiot who had access to power you didn't even understand. I thought you were just some kid way in over your head playing hero. But you've proven to me time and time again, that I'm very wrong." Shadow rose up from his position and laid against the headboard, sitting up once again. He still wouldn't look at Sonic. "You're strong, you're more gifted than I gave you credit for. You aren't the naive child I thought you were, and you grew up in a lot of ways, even if you don't realize it."

As he listened to Shadow's words, he felt so flattered. This, was what he really thought of him?

"I see why Rose is so obsessed with you. I see why Tails worships you on a pedestal. I see why the echidna values you as a great ally and companion, and I see why everyone else in our world look at you like the answer to their prayers." He sighed. "I see now. You were the only one who greeted me, and welcomed me. You were the only one who tried to reform me for the better. Who fought alongside me and showed me who I am, and my true purpose. Everyone else wanted nothing to do with me, but you and Rouge didn't turn your backs on me. You were the only one who listened to me, who knows more about me than she ever could." Shadow said with great admiration, in a gentle tone. "In these last few years, I can honestly say that I'm glad you pestered me, because you made me into someone I can actually stand to look at."

A wave of happiness and compassion took over Sonic's body, making him slightly shudder from how chilling it felt. His lime green eyes twinkled with something he couldn't describe, it was that feeling again. That feeling that seemed familiar, but way too deadly. The feeling that led him to sadness and rejection, that tricked him into feeling so great when things quickly turned bad. That feeling that betrayed him, and made him experience the worst pain imaginable. Sonic wasn't a stranger to heartbreak, and it wasn't just some expression. Heartbreak was an actual physical and psychological trauma, that you can actually feel. Being rejected, being betrayed and being hurt, it felt so excruciating. Maybe that's why in the end, he didn't find Amy completely annoying. He knew how it felt to be head over heels for someone, only to be crushed by their denial of your love.

But if what Shadow was saying was true, did that mean he...? "You've continued saying nice things to me, ever since I got back." Sonic sat up as well to meet Shadow's hesitant gaze. "Why?" He asked.

"You do the same for me, constantly." Shadow still didn't look at him, because he knew that if he saw his face, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back. He knew he was looking at him with those eyes, those beautiful eyes.

"No, besides that. There's more to it than that, and I want you to say it." Sonic softly demanded. "If you know what I'm talking about, then say it."

He was right. If he's said this much, and they both knew what Shadow was trying to say, he might as well come out with it already. He just, didn't know how to put it into words. Well, he had to try. Couldn't have the hedgehog waiting here all night. And, maybe it was best to just say it and wrap up this conversation. They had to rest anyway. "You've actually made me happy, hedgehog. Something that I never thought I could feel." He wouldn't run away from this, so Shadow looked up and faced Sonic directly. And he was right, those eyes were staring right at his own. "You've made me feel content with not just myself, but the world. Not to say that Rouge wasn't a help, but you definitely did more than she could. You taught me other emotions that I never knew I could experience. As years went by, one by one, I felt something deeper for you with every month that passed. I started to visit you more, I started hanging around your friends more. I talked with you more, and got to know the _real_ you. Like you did with me." Shadow moved himself a few inches closer to Sonic. "The only people who made me feel joy, were Maria and Rouge. But you make me feel more. At first, I didn't know why."

The hero's eyes shook, he almost wanted Shadow to say it. However, at the same time, he hoped he didn't. Because if he did...

"When Rouge explained to me in detail what having a 'crush' was, I thought it was a mere immature phase. When she told me how a small crush could turn into something bigger and more complicated, I then realized how much I fell for you." Shadow licked his lips with a little anxiety. He couldn't believe he was saying this. "I want you, Sonic. That's why recently, I tried my best not to get too close to you. I didn't want to force myself onto you like that again." He turned away almost bashfully. "It's why I didn't want to share a bed with you, why I try not to look at you in the eyes. It would all seem too obvious."

Sonic was speechless, to say the least. On top of all _that_ , what could he even say?

Shadow sighed heavily. "When you kissed me, it felt amazing. I wanted more, and I mean a _lot_ more." He cleared his throat and scratched behind his quills. "My apologies for the long exposition, but that is what you wanted." He saw Sonic's face fall into remorse, and questionable doubt. "Are you not satisfied?"

"...It's not that," The blue one said reluctantly. "Not to sound too girly but, I can't tell you how beautiful that was. All you do is flatter me and say how great I am when most of it isn't even true.."

The dark one raised a brow. "What..? Am I still talking to the same arrogant hedgehog from before?"

"Haha, you'd be surprised. I'm probably the most self conscious sissy you'll ever meet. Tails hates when I say stuff like that." Sonic brought his knees up and crossed his arms on top of them with his chin resting on them. "I may be a hero with all these cool powers an' what not, but I ain't nothin' special. I'm not all that, not at all. I've learned to wear a mask ever since I was young, and that's how it's been for a long time. People can't see their hero look depressed or unsure of everything all the time. And it's annoying to have people constantly worry if you're okay, or judge you for being too sensitive or somethin'." Sonic glanced over at Shadow and made a small smile. "That's why I love talkin' to you. You won't constantly check up on me like I'm some baby, like Tails and Amy do. You don't judge me for acting insecure, like Knuckles would. You take me seriously, you understand me better than most people I know, who's known me longer than you have." His eyes lowered, and his smile grew a little bigger. "For that, I'm glad I met you, Shadow." He felt his face get warmer. "And, I think I like you too."

Sonic got from his position and let his knees rest on the bed normally. He moved his lower body even closer to Shadow, and held up his own hands. He started to take his gloves off. Shadow watched, not knowing what he was planning to do next.

"I've been in a relationship before. Plenty of 'em. And, they all sucked." He confessed as he put his hand in his mouth and used his teeth to pull off the garments. "Being a hero makes it super easy to find and date people. But it sure as hell ain't what it's cracked up to be." He tossed them somewhere across the room and leaned forward. "I've been cheated on, dumped...So it's been a while since I've been in one, but I don't think I'm ready yet. To be seriously honest with you, I'm _kinda_ sorta scared, if you can believe it." He chuckled. "I know that I want you too, though. I _know_ I do. That's what this nagging feeling is. That's why I wanna try again. I'm just a little cautious, if you get what I mean."

He didn't want to get hurt again, basically. Shadow was more than happy to know that Sonic felt the same way, but the hero was hesitant. He wasn't sure of himself at all because of what he had to deal with. So he had some walls to get through, but Sonic was still willing to help Shadow take them down. He was probably returning the favor, because that's what Shadow did for him when they became friends.

Since he was welcomed, he had no problem taking this slow-wait, what was he doing?

"But I trust you too." Sonic took off the covers from his side and sat on his knees. He put his hands in his lap and looked down at Shadow who was staring at him in astonishment. Why was he looking at him like that? His eyes were low, the green in them had a lustful cloudy tint to them. His thighs were a little too spread out, and he looked like he was smirking. He licked his lips slowly, moistening them right in front of Shadow. The cheeks on his muzzle were red but, he didn't mind if he noticed. He got on his bare hands and knees and crawled to Shadow. He was really close at this point. "So if you wanna _do somethin'_ ," He hotly whispered. "I suggest you do it, 'cause we got _all_ night."

He was basically just throwing it at him. He was _throwing_ himself at him. What happened to being 'cautious'?! Nope, that's it, he had enough. Shadow tried, he just tried so hard not to lose his cool, but this was it. He couldn't hold it any longer.

The next minute later of intense staring and silence, Shadow tossed Sonic against the bed right on his back.

* * *

 **END - 11**

 **Cliff hangers, man.**

 **They friggin' suck, don't they?**

 **Anyway, bonus time!**

1\. Scourge was recently discovered to being a genius. He can write cursive, make schematics, and comprehend heavy science subjects. Sonic on the other hand, can't do any of that. As he stated himself before, he never even went to school. He's not an idiot, but he's certainly no scholar.

2\. Scourge and Miles have strong resentment in their relationship. They'll happily find a way to one-up, or even kill each other if possible. Neither of them will ever know what it's like to have a sibling, or a loving friend. Sonic and Tails are basically brothers, and love each other dearly.

3\. Scourge is very 'easy', and has no problem giving up his body for sex, even if it's for a stranger. Sonic (and even Shadow), can almost be seen as a demisexual, someone who doesn't show or reveal romantic or sexual feelings to someone unless they have a strong bond with them. I say _almost,_ because Sonic isn't that great at concealing his true feelings. Shadow is a lot better at this, though.

4\. Scourge flirts in a rude, forceful and aggressive way. He's also more blunt, uncaring and not as deep when it comes to romance. He's more physical. Sonic is an excellent charmer and knows how to attract people with less threatening methods. He's a more gentleman-like kind of flirt, and despite his personality, is more romantic. He deals more with emotions. However, Sonic also is no stranger to being direct and blunt when it comes to being _intimate._

 ** _(That last one was a bit of foreshadowing. Have fun while you wait, heheheh.)_**


	12. Perpendicular Love Or Madness

**Warning, some lemon.**

 **12 - Perpendicular Love Or Madness**

* * *

Soon, Shadow's gloves and inhibitor rings were on the floor. That was after he tossed Sonic against the bed. He was a bit worried that he might accidentally blow the entire place into ashes, but, he was trained to keep it under control should his rings come off in an unintentional ordeal. He pinned him against the mattress with Sonic's hands immobilized a bove his head. Shadow was gripping his wrists, and he was on top of his body. His legs were straddling his, he trapped him. The hedgehog below him just gaped at him, his mouth was slightly open.

"You said we have all night." Shadow whispered huskily. "You suggested that I do something."

Sonic said nothing in return, he only watched to see what his partner would do.

Shadow placed his forehead against Sonic's, his now demonic-looking eyes peering into his soul. Sonic never saw him like this before. So serious, yet so mischievous. His eyes were that of an incubus, a person wanting him to fall under his lustful gaze and drain his life force through intimacy. He didn't mind, because he loved that look. He loved seeing his eyes so ill-willed, yet so passionate. His gaze was starting to make him tremble underneath him and whimper, but it wasn't of fear. It was of want, intense desire. Sonic's organic green eyes matched Shadow's hunger, and it made the hero all the more alluring. Sonic wasn't one to allow someone to have any dominance over him, but just this once, he'd make an exception. "But I want you to tell me, what do you wish for me to do?"

"Open your mouth a little, and tilt your head to the side." Sonic commanded delicately. Shadow chuckled and put his hands on Sonic's waist.

"I know very well how to kiss, faker."

Shadow gladly took that invitation and did exactly as Sonic said. He pressed his tan lips against his peach skinned ones, and they both closed their eyes. Sonic's body temperature sky rocketed, his breathing heavy and hot. The way he kissed Shadow was fierce and greedy. He couldn't stop doing it. Shadow was keeping up with him, and he felt himself become eager as well. The lust fully returned to the hero and then some. Their mouths were familiar with each other's, connecting just as perfect as last time. Their lips moved more roughly, and soon they were becoming sore from how aggressive they were being.

When they broke apart for some air, they both sat up simultaneously. That moment they took to look in each other's eyes, ceasing their sexual tensions. They could feel their wavelengths in sync with one another. Their heart beats, their brain patterns, everything. They felt the same emotion at this time, perhaps that was why everything felt so similar? Why they could feel each other's energy so excessively? Sonic and Shadow didn't want to stop here, they wanted more.

Both waited for the other to make a move, wanting to take control of the other. Suddenly, Shadow pounced on Sonic and slammed him against the bed once again. They were in the same situation they started in, only this time, Shadow didn't plan on stopping. Sonic tried to struggle, but Shadow wouldn't have it. He made sure he was still by pinning his hands up above his head with one hand the same way he did before. He straddled him and leaned his head down to steal another kiss. He shoved his mouth against Sonic's again, while his other hand reached below and rubbed itself on the hero's chest.

The hero moaned lightly in the kiss, his mouth opening up even more for the perfect entrance. Shadow took this chance to put his tongue directly into it. Sonic eagerly rolled his own tongue against it, and even sucked it. Shadow made a low moan and rubbed their saliva producing organs together. As much as he was enjoying this, he wanted his tongue on something else. He broke the kiss himself this time, letting his tongue dangle from Sonic's. The tip of it playfully lingered against the blue one's before disconnecting completely.

He let go of Sonic's wrists, put both of his bare dark hands on his blue upper thighs. He pushed them apart and raised his legs upwards. He then roamed his hands onto his hips, loving the feeling of them. His arse was nearly touching his pelvis. Chaos he was so fucking gorgeous. His body was exquisite, immaculate in every way possible. He needed to put his mouth on something, some part of his body. It didn't matter where, he just needed to taste it. Shadow pulled Sonic's lower body against his own sharply, with his blue legs ending up on his black shoulders. The action made Sonic moan a little louder and toss his head back. The sensation of his ass hitting Shadow felt good. " _Fuck._.." He cursed. Woah, that wasn't something he'd normally say.

"Oh? What language." Shadow teased.

"Do it again." Sonic groaned sensually.

"Since you asked so nicely," Shadow thrusted his hips against him, making them both moan. He felt himself getting hard from down below, and he wanted more of Sonic. He didn't even get started yet. He dived his head down to Sonic's shoulder blade, and licked against his skin. He tasted divine, he knew it. He wanted more of that. He moved down to his chest, letting his tongue linger all the way. He put his lips on his peach abdomen, and made small kisses against it. Where were they? He moved one of his hands up to his chest as well, and pressed his fingers through various parts of his fur. Meanwhile, Sonic was moaning the entire time.

He finally found them after a few seconds, and unsheathed his pink nubs. _Aha_ , Shadow thought. He dipped his tongue onto one of them, and put his entire mouth on one of them. He sucked it for a short while, even tugging it with his fanged teeth. Sonic gasped and turned his head away. The small amount of pain gave him a stronger level of pleasure. Shadow let his thumb rub on it, and pinched it between his fingers. The hedgehog below him mewled this time. He sounded adorable. He was teasing him so badly, he knew Sonic wanted more than just bites and licks. This was confirmed when Sonic made a whine, wanting more. His tail was even wagging.

How cute. "Alright, faker-"

"Trust me-nmm, I'm not fakin' nothin'."

"Ha, I see. Tell me, Sonic, what do you want me to do specifically?" He asked nicely while pinching and rubbing his other little pink nub.

"Shadow, mmn!" He was interrupted by his own moans. "Y-You're such an asshole-Ah..!"

"Oh really?" Shadow pushed Sonic's leg up higher and angled both his body and his own in a certain way. He shoved himself onto his nether regions again, making Sonic bite his lip from moaning too loud. "Nmm, what were you saying again?" He grunted.

"F-Fuck you." Sonic panted roughly.

"I'd love to." Shadow sexually growled back. "Tell me what you want, Sonic."

"...I want you to do everything to me." He whispered. "Everything." The second time he said that, he pushed himself against Shadow even more. He was so needing, he needed him. With that expression, Shadow couldn't say no. He put Sonic's legs down off of his shoulders, and lifted him up. The other got up on his hands while the ebony hedgehog put him in his lap. Sonic put his arms around Shadow's neck and leaned in to kiss him. The elder happily obliged and didn't hesitate to kiss back. He rubbed his hands on Sonic's thighs and let them reach further. He put them on his backside, and squeezed. For Sonic, that felt great. He gripped Shadow's shoulder and moaned into the kiss.

Then, the hero did something the other didn't expect him to do. He reached his peach arm lower from his shoulder, and went down Shadow's abdomen and began stroking. The elder hedgehog gasped and accidentally broke the kiss again. He couldn't hold it in, he was getting bigger. Sonic smirked, he was rock hard. He didn't stop, either. He kept rubbing, feeling his member become even stiffer. Precum moistened his hand, and his palm was wet. Shadow was watching his hand move up and down, it only made his body feel hotter. "Obviously this isn't your-mnn...First time?"

Sonic responded by giving him a peck on the cheek first. He moved his hips and pressed them more against him. This time, the younger hedgehog moaned. He had pushed his little one against Shadow's. "Ahh," He shook at the feeling. "H-Heh, you could say that. Guess this isn't yours either, huh? Mmn.." He made a move to wrap his hand around both of their shafts, and continued the motion. "Not gonna lie, I'm k..kinda jealous-Mnn! Shit.." He bit his lip to contain his cries of pleasure.

"Keep your attention on me, faker." Shadow looked up at Sonic and leaned in to lick the side of his mouth. The blue one did as he was told and looked up from his work to meet his bright red eyes. It was as if they were glowing in the dark dingy room. "If you're serious, open _your_ mouth this time." He took one hand off of his backside and held up his fingers to Sonic's pillowy lips. The younger stopped rubbing their members and took a gander at Shadow's fingers curiously. "No, don't stop." He ordered smoothly. "Keep going, and you'll suck them."

"Not fair if I'm doin' all the work." Sonic made a small pout, but it formed into a frown. "You really wanna go all the way? With me?" The redness on his face grew.

He was starting to feel doubt again, and he could feel his sexual high decrease. Shadow placed his hand away from his lips and caressed the side of his face. "Isn't that what you requested? For me to do everything to you?"

Before Sonic replied, he hesitated. "...Well yeah, of course."

"Yet you're still reluctant, I see it." The ebony hedgehog released the tight grip he had on the back of Sonic, and leaned his forehead against his. "I know I want to do this with you. I want to take you. I," Shadow didn't finish his sentence. He couldn't. Why couldn't he? He was sure he could say it, but, it just wouldn't come out. Why couldn't he just let go? Was it Maria? Was it himself? Why couldn't he just say it? This, was the doubt Sonic was feeling. His thoughts were confirmed once Sonic's face turned to sorrow and disappointment.

"I get it." Sonic said. "If you can't say it, maybe we shouldn't go through with it." He smiled a little. "I don't think I'm ready to say it either." He admitted sincerely.

"...I'm still naive, I suppose." Shadow let his fingers fall from his face. Sonic just shook his head and placed a kiss on his lips.

"Don't feel bad. I get it, I've been in this situation before. Besides, dontcha think it'd be better to do it when we beat Scourge?" He asked, knowing he made a good point.

Shadow grimaced, fearing another reason why they couldn't continue. "Is it him?" He knew that was a touchy subject, so he made sure his tone was sympathetic and careful. Sonic's chest heaved in slowly, then exhaled out just as steadily. He looked downwards, his eyes shifting a bit so he could think about what he would say.

"It's not." He shook his head. "Even though everything was forced, I still did those things on my own at the same time. It wasn't, really rape...So I don't have bad memories from him. Just, seriously embarrassed. But," His green eyes looked back up slightly more cheerful. "But I don't even care about that. This doesn't have anything to do with him, I swear. We're just not ready to say 'it' yet, that's all." The elder nodded his head silently, appreciating his honesty. He was glad that bastard didn't pop into his mind the second they started this. Shadow began to move to get Sonic off of him. However, the blue one halted his movements by grabbing his arm with his clean hand. "Hold on, we're both pretty hard right now. We deserve to relieve _some_ stress, right?" He made another good point. Couldn't leave each other high and dry. Not only that, but he couldn't resist Sonic. If they couldn't do that, they at least had to do something to get rid of this throbbing tension. The very person who told them they weren't ready was still willing to give part of himself up to him.

To him, willingly.

Perhaps he'd understand the emotion he couldn't orally express in due time. Sonic would help him get there. And apparently, he'd get him to other places too.

"I'll do you first," Sonic suddenly offered. He pushed himself off of Shadow's lap and got on his hands, bent over his lap. Oh dear, so this was what he had in mind. Well Shadow surely wasn't one to reject such a grand offer. The hero was now down at the dark hedgehog's knees, putting his peach hands on either sides of his thighs and pushing them apart. He grinned at the sight of Shadow's solid length. He did that, huh? He pat himself on the back for that. It was even twitching, shaking and begging to be released. Well, this wouldn't be his first blow job, but it would be his first time giving one. "I honestly don't know what we are Shadow but, this doesn't have to be the first time." Once he said that, he grasped his member and presumed his up and down motions. But he went faster this time.

He didn't just increase his speed by one scale either. It was so overwhelming, Shadow almost came right then and there. He was near ripping the sheets from how intense his grip was on them. It was just him and Sonic, no one else.

No one could interrupt them, no one could stop them.

* * *

A lone lamp with a flickering lightbulb swung back and forth in the small, narrow gray room. It was so dark and cold in here, one could hear faint noises of water dripping from the ceiling. What was this place? Where was he? He knew he was a captive, at least. The last thing he remembered was Sonic somehow finding his base and waltzing himself right in. He breezed right through his robots, destroyed security cameras. He was so much faster and stronger than before, and he didn't know why.

 _He went straight through his robots, literally tearing some in half like a barbarian. He remembered it clear as day now. He watched him through the cameras, but for some reason, it was glitching. The colors on the screens were messed up. He still knew it was Sonic however, because he's the only hedgehog he knew besides Shadow. And his quills weren't upright, so it had to be him. It was odd, though. He wore some kind of jacket around his waist, the sleeves tied around him securely. And he wasn't wearing his regular shoes. What were those, boots? Perhaps he had a different taste in fashion that day._

 _He just walked in, dodged or destroyed his robots which were his security. He even destroyed the alarm that alerted him of his presence. It didn't even bother him, he just kept coming. Where was that fox boy? Why wasn't he with him? The echidna, the pink one, someone had to have been with him! He never took on his bases alone, not without some difficulty at least. Before he knew it, he was busting down the door to his chambers. The heavy metal door fell before him and his computers, and all he could do was stare wide eyed behind his glasses as he strutted his way in._

 _Then, he realized he made a fatal mistake._

 _This wasn't Sonic, not at all._

 _Unless he dyed his fur green and changed his eye color to blue, he knew for sure this wasn't him. A green blue eyed hedgehog, his body scarred all over. Even his face was a victim to whatever injury he sustained in the past. He watched him take his jacket off of his waist by unraveling the sleeves. He put his lightly tanned arms through the black clothing, and pulled it onto his back. He then reached in his pocket, and placed red glasses onto his head between his ears. He made a pose and smirked. He remembered him saying, "Tada! I knew you'd fall for it." He walked over to him and his monitors, tilting his head and smiling. "Blue and I look almost identical from afar, so I tampered with your cameras so you wouldn't know the difference. But enough about me, let's talk about you! Doctor Ivo Robotnik Prime in the flesh!" His gruffer voice, his attitude..._

 _Ah..! He remembered everything now!_

 _That wasn't the blue hedgehog, that was his anti double! That bratty little snot, the one who called himself 'Scourge'. Yes, that was the one. That little troublemaker who had the nerve to try and kill Sonic by his own hands a few years ago. He just continued to smile as he eyed the big human up and down. Robotnik, glowered at the adolescent hedgehog. "You're a way cooler version than the one we got back in my world. He's a damn pushover who tries to make everything all 'eco friendly'. He's dead now, though." He said with boredom as he picked his nails. "Killing him was kinda fun, since he always got in the way of my big plans."_

 _Dear Chaos, he already killed his version Eggman back in his world? Hmph! Well no matter. He wouldn't let a teenager intimidate him. He was a genius! An IQ of three hundred, unrivaled! He's spent years working his brain for knowledge, he was an adult! So, Eggman grinned eerily and folded his arms while looking down at the hedgehog curiously. "And what brings the Evil Sonic back to Mobius Prime? Here to achieve vengeance on our world's Sonic again, I presume?"_

 _"You guessed it, big guy. I'm here to finally do the deed. But, not now. A later time, with a little more preparation." Scourge looked around the room, seeing monitors on walls with sticky notes on some of them. Charts and maps were programmed on some of them as well. Some detailed Mobius, some detailed other planets he was not aware of. But one caught his eye. One was of Sonic, but not the regular Sonic. Super Sonic. And, there was another one. Three more, in fact. But, they looked like other..forms? What were these computers talking about? What was this info? "Hey," He narrowed his eyes. "What're those computers talkin' about over there?" He pointed._

 _Eggman's smirk quickly disappeared. No! He couldn't know about those. There was no telling what he'd do with that kind of information. The human looked down quickly at his station full of commands. Buttons, wires, screens, levers, keyboards decorated all over. Damn! What was the button that shut off all the monitors at once?! Scourge saw the human's timidness, and he leered at him. He huffed and climbed up on top of his control station. He playfully crawled over to the human, who panicked even more as he inched closer. His hands and knees pressed plenty of buttons and keys, making everything in his private room malfunction. "...!" Damn it, it was too late! He couldn't even press a button to deploy other robots or some kind of trap in the room, this little bastard was making everything go out of whack!_

 _"Ohh?" Scourge sat down on his controls and crossed his legs. "Looks like you don't want me to know about that. Meaning, that info's pretty valuable, huh?" He was taunting him. "I won't kill you if you give it to me."_

 _The human was a bit frightened, but he would stand his ground. This child truly had no idea what he was tampering with. "You ignorant fool." Eggman hissed. "You have no idea how dangerous that information is!"_

 _"Oh yeah, this coming from the guy who's probably gonna use it to destroy the world. Oh, excuse me, destroy a_ part _of it. Since you're so merciful. Like how you fucked up the moon, or when you divided Mobius into separate parts." He put his hand on his hip and raised a brow. Eggman seemed surprised by his knowledge of the werehog incident, and the Eclipse Cannon incident. How would he even- "Yeah, I've been doin' my homework. I know aaalll about your little schemes. And some of them were pretty rad, but some of them were pretty jank, too." Scourge suddenly tackled the human out of his egg-shaped chair and down onto the cold floor below. His foot was on top of his large round belly, pressing onto him with the heel of his boot. "You imbecile." Scourge spat at him. "All you old-heads are just alike. Acting like you know everything just 'cause you're a few decades older than me. Guess what? I don't give a shit-" He snarled as he pressed his foot in more, making Eggman groan in pain. "-About your ''superior intellect'. You're not the only one with a high-ass IQ score, prick." He took his foot off of his stomach and swiftly turned around, his back facing him._

 _Eggman continued to watch while coughing as the green hedgehog stood in front of his area of controls, and glanced over everything. He couldn't have figured out how to use it, no way. He's never even been here before, how could he figure anything out? But in the next second, right before his eyes, the boy was typing things and pressing the necessary commands to make the monitors turn on and stop glitching. He looked up and smirked._

 _"There we go." He'd take screen shots of those later. "You'll definitely be a problem if I let you go free. Probably to warn Blue or somethin'. But it won't come to that," He slowly turned around and peered his cold eyes into Eggman's glasses. "I'll make sure of it. But I'll give you one last chance," He knelt down and fluttered his eyes. "If you want, you can try to escape right now."_

 _The human didn't move an inch._

 _"Go on." Scourge whispered. "_ Run. _"_

From that, the fat human desperately tried to run away, but was caught too easily. He tried getting in his egg-mobile and hovering away, but Scourge was too quick for him. The last thing he saw was his foot colliding with his mobile, and him crashing. His base was blowing up, explosions and smoke dancing across the sky. All of his research, his robots, all gone in one fell swoop. He was knocked out, and taken to an unknown area. He guessed Scourge took him to Moebius, but he didn't know _where._

And now, here he was. In a metal chair, in a dark room. Tied up with tight ropes covering his form almost entirely. His mouth was stuffed and tied with a sock to keep his mouth shut. He was no longer wearing his notorious black and red suit. They forced a white chicken costume on him. His gang members in black, stuffed him inside of one before gagging him. It was an ironic, humiliating joke. The only thing he had left of his outfit and his dignity, was his glasses above his big nose. He's been in this hell hole for a while now, a whole year in fact. Only being allowed to eat and sleep on a bare mattress a couple times a week in this room. He had to admit, the green demon was a little shit, but his villainy was note worthy.

The gagging thing was new, today. And he didn't tie him up like this before.

The door to the small room opened. Who was that?

That same green hedgehog walked inside, before shutting the door behind him. He was, wearing something different. Same boots, but he also wore a black T shirt. Didn't care to wear pants, almost no male Mobian liked to for some reason. He was wearing a white apron that was tied around his waist, and he was holding a hot bowl of food. The aroma from it smelled heavenly. What was that? Curry rice? Eggman's big nose couldn't help but sniff a few times. Scourge smiled softly at the human and stepped in front of him, a spoon in his other hand. "Hey!" He greeted. "Long time no see."

The human growled, making Scourge chuckle.

"Looks like someone's a bit grumpy. Sorry for tying you up like this, but I got a few questions for ya. It's about one of the forms from Big Blue's shrine in Mobius Prime." He placed the spoon in the bowl, swirling it around. Eggman's stomach rumbled at the sight of it. He didn't eat for an entire day, he was _starving._ "Hungry I see. Welp, you can have it all if ya want. Ya just gotta tell me about that form, **the light one**."

Eggman gulped at his request. If he told him about that one, he would use it to his advantage some way some how. The tiniest thing could be used to ultimately destroy Sonic, and he couldn't let that happen. He didn't want to stay a prisoner here forever, he needed that blue pin cushion to stop him once and for all.

"All ya gotta do is shake your head yes or no. Will you answer me?" Scourge asked nicely.

The human stayed quiet, scrunching up his face in absolute rebellion.

He wouldn't answer a damn thing.

* * *

As Sonic went up and down, Shadow was leaned back against the headboard with his mouth agape. Though this building was abandoned, if anyone were to walk passed the room they were in, they would hear Shadow's soft moans behind the door. As he was being jerked, he was losing it. He was so tempted to rip Sonic's hand off and push him back down on the bed on his back. But he knew better than that, he knew they couldn't do that. At least not yet. Shit, he was getting wet.

The blue one paused his movements for a minute. "You're pretty big Shads. A little too big, but I think I can work with this."

Shadow flinched at the feeling of his fingers tugging his member towards his mouth. "What are you- _Ngh!_ " The dark one made a strangled noise of pleasure. Sonic had placed him inside of his mouth. As more inches of his length traveled down his throat, Shadow felt sucking sensations against it. He heard the muffled sounds of his lips being a suction, and it only made his arousal grow even more. Shit, was he deep throating it? No, he needed more of this. Not all of him was down his throat, but he needed to feel every crevice of his tongue and esophagus. Shadow put his hand on top of Sonic's head, and shoved it down onto it even more.

He heard Sonic gulping and slightly choking. This made the hero try to pull himself off, and pop the member from out of his mouth. He inhaled sharply and looked up at Shadow while coughing a little. After he recovered, he made a small giggle. "What was all that about?" He asked as a string of saliva drooped from his moist lips. Shadow couldn't believe how easy it was for Sonic to look so innocent, even with precum and spit on his mouth. "'Little too much for ya?" He teased while sticking out his tongue and running it over the head. He lapped it back into his mouth and sucked on the tip of it. "Mmn, I'm gonna put it back in my mouth, but don't choke me this time." Then, he shoved it back down his throat himself.

The sudden action made Shadow sit up instantly and grunt roughly. Why the hell was he _so good_ at this? _How_ was he so good at this? Sonic's head was bobbing up and down like a fishing bobber in water. He saw Sonic reach from below himself and made back and forth motions with his arm. Ohh, he was touching himself as well? Fuck, that just made him feel even hotter. As he was doing his self-inflicted naughty actions, he looked up at Shadow with intense need in his green eyes. They sparkled like the emeralds they collected. It tasted so good, having Shadow inside of his mouth like this. And he was driving him crazy, making the taste seem even more delicious.

He took it from his lips and traveled down the shaft. He licked against it, and the veins decorated on it. He sucked on each one, and even trailed some kisses here and there. Then, he slowly slid his tongue up and down. He was smirking too. Little bastard was still teasing him. No, he needed him right now. No more of that. Shadow pulled himself out from Sonic's grasp by taking his hips back. "Lay down." He demanded while lustfully glaring at Sonic's confused face. "On your back." The striped hedgehog backed away while Sonic did as he said and fell backwards onto the bed right on his back. His legs were wide apart, inviting Shadow to do as he pleased.

The elder crawled on top of him and laid his head against Sonic's. His hands traveled to the hero's, and seized them. He held onto them with a gentle yet tight hold. His member was right above his own. He thrusted onto him with his hips, making the hero close his eyes and moan loudly. That friction was powerful, and it felt so good. "H-Holy shit-" He whispered. Almost as a punishment for cursing, Shadow thrusted again, but harder. "Ahh!" He cried.

"What's the matter faker?" He growled as he pushed himself onto him again. "A little too much for you?" He continued to grind them together again, and he didn't stop. He really wasn't holding back, his speed was increasing way too quickly. His movements were getting a lot more rough, and Sonic could actually feel Shadow's energy spiking up. They were both sweating at this point, and all Sonic could do was just take it. He could barely react, because with every thrust, it made a harder impact. Friction like this alone normally wouldn't get him this close to climaxing, but the chaos energy that was flowing within each other was almighty. It was only increasing their hormones, making them more powerful.

The elder one above him was keeping his hands held in his own, staring at his face to watch his reactions to every action that was done to him. Shadow made himself completely and utterly dominant in this situation. Sonic couldn't even bother wrestling him off, he was way too captivated by his eyes, his desire for power and superiority.

His entire demeanor screamed commandment and control. His desire was obvious, he wanted Sonic's liberty. He wanted his freedom, he wanted everything that made him who he was. But he didn't want to steal it. No, he didn't want to harm it or destroy what made him Mobius' hero. No. He wanted him to willingly share it, to allow someone else to possess it in their grasp, and to trust the person who held it with complete faith and sincerity.

That desire was ungodly in Shadow's aura, and Sonic could sense it easily. And that itself, was the most seductive and attractive trait Shadow had.

When he wanted something, he turned it into intense need.

And whatever he needed, he'd get.

No matter what.

* * *

He could feel the scarlet monster's spirit inside of his body commending him for what he was doing. He was enjoying the malicious ideas the Moebian had trapped in his mind. What should he call him? He couldn't keep callin' him evil Super Sonic. That was way too long and lame. It should be cooler than that, more threatening. Hmm, maybe, _**Fleetway**_? Yeah, Fleetway. Yeah, that sounded menacing enough, right?

"Don't worry boss," He nicknamed the entity that was lingering some of itself inside of him. "This next phase, will be the start of it all. Just gotta get a little more info." He murmured to himself, only wanting the monster inside of him to hear it.

Soon, Sonic's world would be scarred forever. That much was certain, but he needed to know one thing.

"I'll give ya one more chance, big guy." Scourge looked down at the bowl of curry, and looked back up at Eggman. " _The light one_ , is it weaker than the one that's living with me right now? The demon, _scarlet_?"

The fat man cleared his throat, eyeing both the hedgehog and the bowl of food. That spoon, the way he kept swishing it around. What was he planning to do with that? Should he answer? Should he be truthful? This kid was gonna bug him all night, he was sure. He mentally sighed to himself. If it would get Sonic one step closer to beating this brat...

...Eggman shook his head, slowly. Saying, 'no' to his question.

Scourge hummed to himself, before thinking. "Well boss," He mumbled to the red vortex-eyed beast. "Guess you were right."

The monster inside of his mind didn't respond, but Scourge could feel it's satisfaction. So the human was telling the truth.

"Well!" The green hedgehog smiled. "I'll give ya what I promised." He stepped a little closer, holding up the spoon full of nutrients. Rice and other delicious ingredients. The closer the hedgehog got, the more Eggman's stomach rumbled.

Wait, something was wrong.

Why didn't he take off the gag? He couldn't possibly feed him like-Why was he taking his glasses off? What the hell was he doing? He tossed them across the room. Some of the glass on the frames shattered. The human just looked perplexed. What was that about? How dare he!?

"Ahh, there we go. Now I can feed you properly!" He said gleefully as he held up the spoon again. Why was he raising to his face like that? Why-

...No.

 _No._

NO.

 _NO!_ He couldn't! He wouldn't-!

"Oooopeeenn wiiiide~"

His eye, not his eye! It was going into his eye socket, right underneath his eyeball! All he could do was move back and forth violently in his restraints, mumbling screams of panic and soon pain as he felt cold silver slip right underneath his vision. His pupils dilated and shrunk back to back, he could feel it peeling it off! He could feel it all being pulled! It was a sickening, nasty sound. It sounded sticky, repulsive! No matter what, he couldn't stop it from happening, it was really being pulled...!

As more muffled shrieks of torture filled the room, one Dr. Robotnik's eyes, rolled onto the floor.

Curry rice filled the now empty bloody eye socket.

* * *

"Ah, ahh, aaahh!" Sonic couldn't close his mouth since he was moaning so much. And even if he wasn't moaning, he'd be panting right now. Shadow had put his hand down between them and had it on both their shafts like earlier, only this time it was mostly attached to Sonic's. It was only fair after he gave that nice blow job. The look on the younger hedgehog's face was priceless. He was in such dire pleasure, he couldn't contain his helpless cries. He was so fucking irresistible, he never wanted to take his hands off him. He wanted to keep touching him, he didn't want any of this to end.

How many minutes was it? Has it been an hour yet? His sense of time was far gone, he was already way too distracted by pleasing Sonic's body. He felt his climax rising, and he felt his own nearing closer as well. It's so funny, he never did this before. Rouge didn't even do this to him before. It was a new experience that he never anticipated, and he loved it. No wonder some people were addicted to this, this wasn't just fun but it felt so amazing! He suddenly felt his mouth wanting to lick something. Sonic's face was the closet thing to it, so why not?

He licked the corner of his open-groaning mouth before sticking it right inside. Sonic was definitely caught off guard by this, but he didn't mind. He let his tongue dance with Shadow's and intertwined their substances. Just as they found a good rhythm, Shadow broke up their french kissing session, much to Sonic's disappointment. He made a small whine, making Shadow snicker. He then traveled his head downwards and went for his neck. The hero made a loud gasp when the ultimate life form bit down. He was biting kinda hard and it hurt but, it sorta felt good too. And the way he was licking against it, it was like there was never any pain at all. Chaos, why did his tongue feel so good?

"S-Shadow.." He breathed. That airy moaning of his name just turned him on even more. Yes, he wanted him to say his name just like that. He needed to hear it again. He'd record it if he could. Shadow took his hands off of Sonic's hands and gripped them onto his hips again. He yanked his body closer, which was basically a hard thrust onto his length. " _Ahh!_ Shadow..!" He mewled. Yes, he needed to hear that again! The hell with it all, if he couldn't be inside of Sonic, then this was the next best thing! He'd go so hard, so fast, he'd burn this moment into his mind forever!

As for Sonic, he didn't realize Shadow was internally going sex-crazy. He didn't even realize the sneer on his face looked practically sinister. In fact, why was he going even faster? "..!" Sonic couldn't even make coherent words, that's how harsh he was being. And he liked that. He loved it. That's how he liked it, hard and fast. Exactly the way they fight, the very essence of their personalities. And now, it was the actions of their lovemaking-err, foreplay. It was like Shadow was pretending he was inside of Sonic, and that would explain why he was grinding so much onto him. The friction was so severe, so strong, he couldn't stop his nerves from reacting. It was a constant shock wave of pleasure every time he moved his hips.

Shadow took his lips off of Sonic's neck and pressed it on top of his forehead. He briefly kissed him before closing his eyes and just letting his body take over everything he needed to handle. He was breathlessly breathing, making grunts here and there. The blue hedgehog reached his peach arms up and wrapped them around Shadow's neck. He was moaning right in his face, showing him all of the sultry expressions he could muster. _So provocative_ , was all Shadow could think. The bed was thumping it's legs against the floor constantly over and over. They were rocking it way too hard. Sonic reached his legs up and wrapped them against Shadow's waist almost like a pretzel. He was pressing themselves together even closer.

They both felt it, they felt it rise inside of them. Something indescribable, something overpowering.

Sonic's green eyes dilated and his voice reached to the heavens. His face became pure shock and ecstasy all at once."A-Aahh! _Shadow-!_ "

Shadow's eye's snapped opened the second he said his name like that. "Nmgh..! _Sonic..!_ "

Then there was white.

Mostly on Sonic's stomach, on his inner thighs, a little on Shadow's lower body. There was quite a lot. Both males were dripping or still spilling. They both panted heavily against each other, eyes lowered and serene. They really just, did that. The euphoria of their climaxes was still very present, and they both tried their best to ride it out. They both gently kissed each other, and collapse onto the bed. Well, more like Shadow just laid on top of Sonic with his head in the crook of his shoulder and neck. When he did that, Sonic moaned a little. He was laying himself right on his little one, and so was he, with his chest fur tickling him. Sonic's legs relaxed themselves and fell off of Shadow's waist to lay sprawled on the bed. Shadow made a small cringe when he felt something shaking against him. He looked back behind himself and saw Sonic's legs were shaking.

"H-Heh." He tried to laugh. "Sorry, you had me shakin' there, Shads. It was too good..." He said with a sensual but breathless tone. Damn, he made him cum so hard that he was shaking? All just from foreplay? Well that earned himself some brownie points. After maybe ten minutes of slowing down their breathing patterns, Sonic suggested they wash up. "We made a big mess, is there a shower or somethin'? Not that I feel like washing right now but, we don't want this stuff to linger." Sonic made a move to sit up, but Shadow stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. He kissed his shoulder blade and got up instead. He detached himself from Sonic and saw the white material drip off their bodies. They really did make a mess. He'd have to take the sheets off later.

Shadow bent down and scooped Sonic into his arms, bridal style. Normally Sonic would complain, but in this instance, he'd let it go. Besides, his chest fur was so soft and comforting, he'd almost rather lay on him than an actual bed. He just nestled his head onto his chest and smiled to himself. That was seriously amazing. Best orgasm he's ever had. And the same went for Shadow. That was probably the most exciting thing he's ever done. Forget all the battles he's fought, all the pain and scars he endured in combat. No, the adrenaline of fighting didn't compare to the epinephrine of sex. That feeling was much stronger than that.

But he didn't just feel a rush, he felt something else. The tenderness and affection that blossomed in their foreplay, was that the feeling Sonic was trying to reference? And this affection was similar to how he felt with Maria, but it was very different at the same time. It wasn't just respect and captivation for him anymore, it was something more. A lot more. That's what Shadow was thinking as he carried Sonic out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom.

"Shadow." Sonic called silently. He sounded a little serious. His voice also sounded a bit shaky, still trying to recover from what they did. Shadow looked down below him at the younger hedgehog in his arms.

"Yes, Sonic?" He used his real name respectfully after what they just did.

"When we beat Scourge, and when we're ready to say 'I love you'," He began. That was it right there. That phrase. He hadn't said it in such a long time. He only ever said it to her, Maria. She was the only person in the universe who deserved to hear it. Now he was hearing it again from someone else in present time. Someone who he admired, someone who he honored. Someone who he was hopelessly attracted to. Someone that he cared for in another way. "We'll go all the way. And I'll let you take all of me." He promised. "I'll let you and only you take what makes me, me. I'll let you have it all, if you promise to do the same in return." His expression looked so honest and even heavenly. He never thought someone could even look like that. "Things are different now, and I wanna do other fun stuff with you that's not just dirty. I know I shouldn't have to ask this, but you understand what I'm saying, right?"

He understood more than he knew. "..Of course I do." Shadow smiled back. "When the time is right, I will give you anything you wish to take. You will not regret it, I can promise you that."

"I'm glad." Sonic replied sweetly. "Thank you." He whispered.

 _No, Sonic._ Shadow thought to himself. _Thank you, for allowing me to see your vulnerability. To see you in such a state, that only I'm now allowed to see. Thank you for assuring me, that I have a chance with you. To give me a chance to have you for myself, and cherish you and your body as much as I please. Thank you Sonic, for giving a part yourself to me. Thank you for promising yourself to me. In return, I will give myself to you in whole, at a better time._

 _You are mine, but I'm yours._

* * *

Scourge looked at the screen of his cell phone with a very unhappy expression. He crushed the device in his hand easily, watching pieces of hard metal and plastic fall apart. Chips and other pieces of technology fell at his shoes in small bits. He was very angry, but he knew he couldn't be. When Fleetway made itself known in his Scourge's body, he gained another ability along with mind-tripping. Any person who fell victim to his mind power, would never be forgotten. Scourge would be able to see what they're doing and where they are, only by picturing their face in his head.

Say he wanted to see what Sonic was up to, for example. He'd think of him, and poof! He would be able to telepathically see what he was doing and where he was. He was also able to project what he could see onto devices, such as a smart phone. Kind of like clairvoyance, in a way. And he saw everything. Well not everything, he only saw them finish. Yeah, he saw them screw right in front of his eyes. Right after he scooped out Eggman's eye, he checked on his favorite little blue hero, just to see him fooling around with Stripes.

They didn't go all the way, but it didn't matter. That damn alien touched what was his. But, at the same time, he saw this coming. He knew that bastard had a crush on him. He knew Blue had a thing for him too, he could feel it. He expected this, he just wished it didn't happen so soon.

...He sighed, decreasing his upcoming uncontrollable temper, and regained his composure.

He then smiled. It was okay, all he had to do was get his revenge on Stripes too. No problem.

He would make sure he tortured him the most when all was said and done.

Fleetway was feeding off of his anger, his animosity. His hunger for blood shed. Yes, everything was fine. Because the next part of his plan involved Mobius Prime. His first destination?

GUN Headquarters.

* * *

 **END - 12**

 **Sorry for the wait.**

 **As for Sonic and Shadow, yay! They finally did naughty things!  
**

 **And yes, Scourge will not be pulling any punches on _anyone._**

1\. Scourge has already murdered Dr. Kintobor, AKA the anti-Eggman in his world. Kintobor (Robotnik spelled backwards, how original.) was a nice and gentle scientist, who tried his best to fight against Scourge and his Suppression Squad. (In the comics, anyway.) Sonic has never mortally harmed Eggman, but has nearly killed him more than once before. However, he'd never allow himself to commit murder, no matter what. To Sonic, killing is the greatest sin there is.

2\. Sonic isn't one to throw around the words 'I love you' that often, since he finds them too special to say. Scourge on the other hand, will use them as much as he likes as long he ends up getting laid.

3\. Scourge, like Tails and Eggman, has a very high IQ. Sonic's, is most likely lower than all three of them combined.

4\. Sonic can cook, Scourge doesn't know how. Though he had a bowl of curry in this chapter, he didn't make it himself. _Cooking isn't one of the talents he's good at._

 _5\. Sonic and Scourge **both** know very well what true love is._


	13. Welcome To No Zone, Soldier!

**13 - Welcome To No Zone, Soldier!**

* * *

Usually in the morning, Sonic would wake up from sunshine beating on his face from the window. But in this world, there wasn't a sun. And if there was, it's never shown it's face to the planet, not for a long time. Perhaps it had froze? Maybe it burned out? Or maybe Moebius just didn't deserve the privilege of having beautiful sun rays. A shame, really. Sonic didn't need a mechanical clock to tell him what time it was. He had an internal clock inside of him that let his mind tell him what time it was. He spent so much time outdoors that he's learned to make his body prone into telling time. So sometimes if he forgot to set an alarm for certain occasions, he just woke up on his own at an early hour. Sonic was mostly an early riser, even though he enjoys sleeping in now and then. But in important situations like this, he knew he had to wake up at a very crucial hour. His body automatically woke itself up.

He sat up slowly and scratched his head. He looked over at the broken window near the bed. Yup, no sunlight. What a depressing world. He sighed, but it became a long yawn. He stretched while his ears flattened. A few bones cracked, and he forced himself to be a little more active and less drowsy. He had to get dressed and leave with Shadow. Then, his eyes got bigger. He turned to his side, to see the ultimate life form sleeping next to him. One of his red striped arms was behind his head, and he was silently snoring. Holy crap, he looked so cute! Sonic grinned to himself with a giggle. Damn it, he wished he had a camera so bad. Even a phone would be perfect for this moment, and he hated those things.

Then he remembered what they did last night. Well, they did a _few_ things. Sonic's face was pinker than Amy's fur as of that moment. He said all those things, and Shadow said all _those_ things and...He dragged his hand back against his quills. They'd have to talk about that later. He totally didn't regret it, though. He enjoyed himself the whole time. It was fun and, it relieved a lot of stress. Not only that, but he told Shadow how he truly felt. He showed him, too. He was developing feelings for him lately, he was glad he got it out. But he was more happy that Shadow felt the same way, and accepted his feelings. But did he love him? Even if he did, did Shadow love him? Did he even know what it was? No, of course he did. He loved that Maria girl, right? Oh, but probably not _that_ way. Were they a couple now? What were they?

...Yeah they'd have to talk about it.

Enough about that, they had to leave. Scourge was probably back and they needed to get outta here before he checked his little safe haven. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be too happy about them messing around in his bed. Plus, they had to get the body-Oh dear Chaos. The body, _the body_ , how did they forget about the body!? They did things in front of an unconscious body! Oh God that's so freaking gross...After imagining himself ripping his own eyes out from embarrassment, he reached beside him and shook Shadow's shoulder to wake him up from his slumber. If he was sleeping this hard, then he must have used up a lot of energy. "Hey." He said in a quiet voice. He didn't want to be too loud, that'd be rude. "Shadow, wake up. Come on, we gotta go."

It still wasn't working. He wouldn't wake up. Hm, there was only one thing he could think of. Sonic leaned over him, and caressed the side of his muzzle to turn his face in his direction. He licked his own lips to moisten them, and rubbed them together so that they wouldn't be too wet. Maybe they were good in the heat of a sexy moment, but wet kisses normally didn't feel nice. His mouth was hovering above Shadow's, and he pressed his thumb on the side of it to get a better opening. He leaned his face closer, and prepared to kiss him.

Shadow opened his eyes steadily, hazy from his drowsiness. He waited for his vision to fix itself, before he realized what was coming towards him. A pair of perfect peach lips, was coming towards his own. He didn't protest, or move against it. He allowed it to happen. Once Sonic kissed him, Shadow reached up and pressed his hand on top of the hero's head to pull him even closer. At that moment, Sonic noticed that Shadow was already awake. He moved to pull away, but the other wouldn't let him go. So, he just went along with it and continued to kiss him while sitting on Shadow's lap. Maybe ten seconds into it, both of Shadow's hands went down, and grasped Sonic's lower body. His hands roamed lower and lower until he reached a certain place.

Instantly, Sonic broke the kiss and gave Shadow a playful glare. "Hands above the waist, buster."

Shadow smirked. "My apologies. But if you knew just how long I've waited to touch it, you'd understand my vulgar behavior."

"Oh really?" He replied sensuously. "Well in that case," He grabbed Shadow's hands and placed them back on his behind. The dark hedgehog massaged it thoroughly, giving Sonic an extremely erotic stare. What a nice way to wake up. His hands feeling his body like this, his touch was making him hot again. He was getting excited and he wanted him to do more. Shadow rose one of his hands, and swung it back down onto one of his cheeks. "Ahh.." Sonic gasped and made a small moan, he was turning red already. Maybe they could use just a little bit more time to-Wait. They didn't have time to do this right now! "W-Wait stop, we gotta go!" He exclaimed. He gently pulled Shadow's arms away from his body and got from on top of him. He climbed out of bed and jogged to the bathroom.

Shit, he was right. Shadow felt somewhat shameful for letting Sonic's ass distract him from their priorities, but he couldn't let that mislead him any further. He stood up from the bed and joined his partner in the bathroom to clean up and get their clothes on. Well, their shoes and gloves. They hopped in the shower together and quickly washed themselves. They had already seen each other naked, why not? Besides, it was quicker. Thankfully, the plumbing still worked here. They dried themselves and put on their shoes and gloves. Shadow made sure to clip on his inhibitor rings that he previously threw away somewhere in the room last night. They were both in front of the bed, double checking everything. Sonic had all the emeralds, he had the warp ring...

Oh yeah, the body. They both looked at it in unison. Sonic hauled it all the way here, so Shadow figured it'd be nice if he took a turn to carry him this time. He lifted the body up on his back and looked at Sonic with a nod. Everything was fine. Sonic nodded back and took out the warp ring from his quills. He grabbed Shadow's shoulder so that they both would be transported to where they needed to go. His body glowed with a light blue hue, and he was just about to teleport them-

"Wait." Shadow interrupted his concentration. Sonic blinked at him.

"Huh?"

Soon, Shadow and Sonic were outside standing in front of the bed and breakfast. Sonic didn't know why, but Shadow said that they shouldn't stay in the building. So they scurried outside, and got back in their normal positions. Shadow was carrying his look-alike on his back, and Sonic was holding onto his shoulder while closing his eyes and concentrating on getting them out of here. He held the warp ring tightly, and felt his energy collide with its power. But just before the white sparks made them disappear, Shadow made a sneer and held his hand up towards the bed and breakfast. He uttered the words, "Chaos Blast." A large beam of red energy blasted from his palm into the structure in front of them. It decimated it into nothing, becoming nothing but ash and rubble. Sonic's eyes were wide with shock, and before he could turn to Shadow and ask him what the hell he was doing, they had already been warped away.

Nothing was left, but a burnt picture of someone fluttering in the breeze.

Someone...Blue, smiling.

* * *

Before they knew it, they appeared in white sparks on solid ground.

Sonic couldn't even scold Shadow for his reckless behavior, because the sight of the new world before them caught his attention instead. This was a very different environment. A much more lively one. There were futuristic looking buildings everywhere, flying cars, flying motorbikes. So many people were outside of their houses, not only enjoying the beautiful day, but working. There were people working hard for their community. There were carpenters working on apartments, teachers rounding up their kids from their playgrounds, hard hats working on construction all around town. Err, actually, they were a _lot_ of constructions workers. Literally everywhere. And there were so many, that even women were working. That wasn't good.

The sun was shining bright on their cornucopia of city life. Even children were working jobs here. Teens were respectful to their fellow elders, and even the elderly were working hard. An infant would be working right now if they could. And the beauty of it all, was that nothing was forced labor. Everyone here was glad to pick up a hammer and nail and work. Businesses of shops and corporations were booming. The mortality rate of this world was low, but the hospitals were getting patients in and out like clockwork. Once someone was taken in, they were back out in no time and went right back to work. There was no such thing as being lazy here.

Structures of buildings were perfect and sleek, extravagant and complex. Nothing was simple, nothing was basic. Everything was at the top of the line here. The air itself smelled very fresh, like it didn't even belong. The skies were perfectly clear, and the few trees that were around were tall and mighty with organic life. Poverty here was low, and there was mostly middle class. Even a worker with the lowest pay had a chance at life. Hobos had a chance, and rarely, convicts had the chance to be somebody. A world where everyone worked hard with the strongest military force in the universe? That sounded like a fantasy.

And yet, here it was. Right in their faces.

People who looked like soldiers were also littered everywhere. Mobian looking men and women that wore sleek black uniforms, with sharp metallic golden shoulder pieces. The fabric on their uniforms looked like hard material as well, yet it fit them like flexible body suits. There was little armor on them, being on their knees and elbows almost like pads. But they looked much more intimidating than that. They wore military boots, while some wore advanced looking ones. Almost designed like Shadow's or Sonic's shoes. Some wore medals on their chests, revealing their high ranks. And finally, they all wore a signature black helmet on their heads. It was similar to a cross between space helmets and bike helmets, but again, more advanced looking. They all had two odd antennas on the sides of them. Truly, they all looked liked people who belonged in the galactic wonder of space. At the same time, they looked like people who were ready to go to war.

Shadow was simply amazed by the world's glamour. This place was _awesome._ It even had a strong sense of justice here.

Sonic though, was confused. Were those the zone cops? It couldn't have been, their uniforms didn't look like that. They were red, green, yellow and blue. These guys all wore black, just like Scourge's thugs, with touches of gold and white here and there. While yes, they looked a lot cooler than the other ones, that wasn't right. Were they in the right reality?

"Err, well..." Sonic squinted his eyes. "This is _No Zone_ , Shadow." He said insecurely. He recognized the city, but not their police. Just, weird. "Don't be surprised if your balance seems off when you walk." He warned before trying to take a few steps to familiarize himself with the world's gravity. Shadow noticed this and tried matching Sonic's movements.

"Why is that?" He stumbled a little, and found that the ground _did_ seem uncomfortable to walk on. He was having a little trouble moving while balancing the body on his back.

"Well, this is the _Perpendicular Zone_. So everything is on a ninety degree angle." He explained as he walked a few steps without any trouble. He supposed he was alright to travel by foot now. "There's devices planted all around the world to make visitors turn upright _their_ way, so we walk and look normal just like everyone else. Not walking on walls and stuff." Shadow seemed like he was getting the hang of it too. He joined the hero's side, and walked with him down the clean street of the city.

"This place is grand." The dark one was blown away. "It's just amazing."

"I know." Sonic grinned. "Much better than crappy ol' anti-Mobius, am I right?"

"Absolutely. It's more vibrant than Empire City."

"That's right! Everybody pulls their weight around here." He looked down at some small kids running past them. They were giggling and laughing but, they weren't just playing around. They ran to a solid dark wall on the side of a building that had unfinished paint. The children were messy with white paint stains on their clothes. They crouched down to the ground by the lonely pails of paint buckets. They grabbed the brushes from inside them and began to paint the unfinished wall. A few adults walked past them while patting their heads with buckets of paint for themselves. They stopped next to them and began painting as well. They'd be done in less than an hour with all those hands working together. It made Sonic so happy to see people helping their community so much. "It's like, everyone's a hero in their own way."

Shadow saw the bright expression on Sonic's face, and smiled to himself. "Indeed." Then, a thought occurred to him. Sonic seemed a little panicked when Miles told them Scourge's men were here not too long ago. "Why were you so surprised that your anti-double came here?"

Sonic blew out some air while looking up at the tall buildings of hotels and apartments. "Well, this world is the only one I know of with a huge military force. They arrest convicts from all over the galaxy, from all types of realities. They're people who you don't wanna mess with, ya know?" He explained. "If Scourge had the balls to come here with his crew, that could have went south. He could have caused a _war._ " Sonic then smiled a little. "Still, these guys aren't strangers to that. They've been in a war before, and won. So I'm sure they could have handled themselves."

"I see." Shadow looked over across from them, where a street of cars zoomed by with people speed walking on the side walks. This world didn't have time for nonsense. Life would keep moving here, no matter what. Other worlds could learn a thing or two from this place.

Their moment of admiration was interrupted by loud sirens.

The hovering vehicles in the air floated downwards on the street and skidded to a halt. Their triangular ears flinched at the sounds of helicopters. They looked up at the skies, watching choppers fly even higher than the cars and stopped over the city. The black police cars had red and blue flashing lights, signifying that there was trouble at hand. Soon, more and more cars piled up behind them, and officers protruded out of their automobiles.

Then, a glass shattering sound. Sonic and Shadow whipped their heads over across the street where the construction workers were. They were on the roofs of a large building, while people were still inside working on their jobs. The front doors to the building burst into glass shards. Five particular people sprinted out, with bags of stuff in their arms and hands. They were all barefoot, and wearing orange clothing. Sonic recognized that uniform. They were all prisoners! A few explosions combusted within the building, making it shake and rumble. A few workers lost balance and fell from the roofs.

Both Sonic and Shadow were ready to bolt over there, until something whirred passed them. They blinked several times, before adjusting their focus on what ran at such high speed.

It was the cops! They were running, and fast. A female cop who was holding an exceptional looking gun put the weapon on the back of her belt and rushed towards the building. She ran to the side of it and ran upwards, yes _upwards_ , and jumped to catch the falling construction workers in time. They thought she would land from her jump by now, but she didn't, because she was floating in the air. Her footwear was a sight for sore eyes, and air puffed out of the bottom of them. Not only that, but she was holding at least three men on her back and arms with no problem at all. She was _strong_.

Then, more cops ran past them. A good number of them. At least five. Their uniforms were slightly different from the girl's, and they had small medals on their chests. They pressed their black gloved fingers onto their helmets. And right before Shadow and Sonic's eyes, their helmets formed into gas masks. With the smoke barreling out of the broken doors, screams were heard. There were civilians in there, but there were toxic fumes from the explosion. Shadow assumed they were some kind of bomb squad.

Suddenly, more cops ran past them at top speed to usher people away from the building. They were escorting them away gently, while some just picked them up and ran to a safe distance. They were evacuating people from the premises. Both Sonic and Shadow were slack jawed in awe to say the least. Everyone was just so freakin' cool!

Finally, another siren was heard. But it was coupled with a different sound. It wasn't another car, it was a motorcycle. They could hear the rumbles of its engines. And it wasn't just one, there were three. Two people on them landed on the ground in front of the two hedgehogs and made them skid to a stop. One of them was large, while the other was smaller. And, was that a horn coming from his head..!?

However, the third bike just drove passed them all and traveled all the way to where those criminals ran. The soldier on the vehicle had various medals on his chest. Gaining on their trail, the criminals looked back in fear, as if they recognized whoever rode it. The soldier on the bike jumped off swiftly and landed on their feet before picking up speed on foot. The lone motorbike parked itself against the wall of a fence and sat there unattended. The escaped prisoners couldn't get away, they were coming way too fast. They had to stop and turn back to confront the officer head on.

Bad mistake.

The officer swung something at them. Whatever it was had long range, because it struck them all in the face in one swipe. They stumbled back, giving the officer enough time to flip over them while pointing his fist at then. There was something weird on his wrist, some kind of device aimed and shot a beam at them all. It rendered them all helpless, and forced them on their knees. They suddenly couldn't feel a thing, and all they could do was fall on the ground and grovel. The officer landed behind the five escapees, and put two fingers to the right side of his helmet. Some static was heard.

"Attention all units, the threat has been apprehended. Unlock cells number seven, eleven, seventy four, fifteen and eighty nine. Secure HQ and allow admission for prisoner transports." He let his fingers go for a second, before pressing them to his helmet again. "Officers Zespio and Zector, report." He commanded as he bent down to the prisoners and pulled something from his belt. Metal cuffs. He placed them on all of their wrists, draining all of their strength to move. The soldier pressed his thumb on the chin of his helmet, which revealed an opening for his mouth. "You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire." He then pressed his finger on the left side of his helmet again and stood up tall, he heard his transmitter making static.

 _"Everything's secure here, sir. No casualties, a few injured due to the blast. The civilians who were harmed are being escorted to a nearest hospital."_

Another voice chimed in on the transmission. _"The bomb squad is finishing up, everyone's reporting back to HQ by your orders."_

The soldier crossed his free arm over his chest as he responded back. "Excellent. Proceed with prisoner transportation as soon as possible."

Both voices from his transmitter complied respectfully. _"Yes sir."_ With that, their connection ended. The proud soldier of four gold stars saluted the few officers and civilians that passed by him. To this, Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand and ran to his location. He could barely see or hear him since he was all the way down the big street. Sonic stood in front of the officer, who turned their head towards him slowly. Shadow was confused by Sonic's sudden actions, but then turned his attention to the male in front of them. The officer held up a hand and took one step closer.

"Stop. You are no citizen of No Zone. State your business and address." They ordered coldly. His voice, sounded a lot like Sonic's.

Sonic recognized that voice anywhere, and his eyes widened with stars twinkling in them. He started to smile warmly, steadily letting go of Shadow's hand. "Zonic? Buddy, is that you?" He asked hopefully.

The officer's mouth was open but didn't say a word. He threw his hands up to his helmet, and pressed his fingers on both sides of them to make it click and release cool steamed air as he took it off. He shook his head to let his quills flow out freely. He held the helmet by his side, and showed his face to both hedgehogs. Shadow was dumbfounded.

This person looked _exactly_ like Sonic.

Blue fur, same quills, green eyes that were a shade darker, and a peach muzzle. At first his expression seemed standoffish, and stoic. Much like Shadow's normal face. Or as Sonic once said, 'Shad's resting bitch face'. Then his expression softened up. The moment he locked eyes with Sonic, he didn't look so grumpy anymore. Just more shocked and relieved. In Shadow's perspective, this person was _breathtaking._ He was so-Oh wait, he's only saying that because he looks like Sonic. But something about that military status, was he a four star rank? Maybe that was making him hot. The power of immense authority, that was mouthwatering for the ultimate life form.

The person who he addressed as _**Zonic**_ , started to smile at his partner. "...Sonic prime?" He whispered. Then, he saw Shadow and the body he was carrying on his back. The person he was carrying, he recognized instantly. "...!" He made a look of horror, then anger. To this, Sonic just frowned with a questionable expression.

"Zonic? What's-"

The zone cop placed his fingers on the collar of his uniform and pressed them together. Both hedgehogs heard static. Wait, he had a transmitter in there too?! "Officers Zespio and Zector, recruit any nearby officers and get down here immediately. There is an unknown interloper in possession of an unconscious fellow soldier!"

Sonic and Shadow winced at his tone. That wasn't good. Sonic tried to speak for Shadow and defend him. "N-No no! Zonic, we found this guy back in Moebius. I had a feeling he was one of you guys, so I had Shadow carry it back over here-"

He shouldn't have mentioned Moebius, because once he did, Zonic's eyes became erratic with rage. "Requesting immediate back up. Prepare appropriate security measures back at HQ, I'm going to need some escorts." He glared at Shadow specifically, who just stared back awkwardly. "And prepare an empty cell. Just in case." He growled.

"Oh crap." Sonic muttered.

This was bad, _really_ bad.

* * *

The second they stepped foot in No Zone Headquarters, all the soldiers who were escorting Sonic and Shadow had their uniforms digitize into less armored attires. They looked more casual compared to their military garb. No helmets, no pads, just their medals and shoes. Accompanied with normal military articles of clothing. Still, they all wore black. Because of this, Sonic recognized two more soldiers. Zespio and Zector. Zespio was the one with the horn that he saw earlier, but even they wouldn't bat an eye at them due to being suspicious. Zonic, the leader of these men and women walked in front of Shadow and Sonic with his hands folded behind his back. He held something in his hand that looked like a night stick, but it seemed more dangerous than that. The hedgehogs had their wrists locked together with handcuffs, the same ones that he arrested those escapees with. They were draining their energy, and they felt tired just by walking. They traveled by elevator from the entrance and moved to a higher floor. The entire building itself was enormous, and astounding. And of course, soldiers were everywhere.

The body that Shadow carried was taken to an undisclosed area. Must have been someone important if it made Zonic look like that. The entire time they walked, Sonic kept trying to talk some sense into the commander. "Z, it's _me_ , Sonic. Come on, you can't be serious right now." He groaned. "You did this the first time we met. You arrested me for no reason!" He complained. Suddenly, the cops who were pushing Sonic and Shadow stopped their movements, because their leader stopped his movements as well and turned to them menacingly. "Geez, don't make the stink face at me." The hero whimpered.

Zonic didn't even say anything, his ice cold stare was threatening enough. Sonic remembered that glare all too well from the last time he was here. The commander sighed and looked away while continuing to walk again, the heels of his shoes clicking against the metal floors. "I have no doubt in my mind that you are sincere, Sonic prime."

"Then why don't you let us go-"

"You both still need to go through security measures to ensure that you both aren't mind slaves of anti-Sonic's." He cut him off rudely. "Things have been hectic. Even the smallest sign of suspicion needs to be examined." He stated bluntly. Meanwhile, the officers who were holding Shadow and forcing him to walk were being a little too rough with him. They pushed and shoved him, and Shadow of course didn't like the treatment, so he was pushing and shoving back. After all, you shouldn't agitate the aggressor. They were mishandling him so much due to him squirming, that it forced the officers who were escorting Sonic to stop just in case they needed to step in. Zonic stopped once again as well and looked over his shoulder without turning around.

Shadow grunted and broke out of his handcuffs by yanking his arms apart, much to their surprise. He elbowed and kicked the other officers away from him and was quickly regaining his energy back. He tossed one of them, a female against the wall and round house kicked another right in the face. Sonic tried to face palm himself even though he know he couldn't. They would get in even bigger trouble now. The men holding Sonic stepped back and pulled him aside when Zonic walked over.

Shadow stood defiantly against the leader and scoffed. "My apologies, but I don't take well to being mangled." He cracked a few knuckles in one of his hands and readied himself for a fight. Zonic just placed the night stick-looking weapon on his shoulder, while placing his other hand on his hip. He looked very unimpressed. "I suggest you let Sonic go this instant, before I have to manhandle _you_ next." The hell with this guy being attractive, he was irritated. Only two minutes in this world and already, they were being treated like their crummy prisoners. Well no more. He was tired of all these Sonic look-a-likes prancing around like they owned everything!

Zonic tried to be civil one last time. "I do not know if you are a spy of Scourge's or not, this is only a security measure." He then tilted his head to the side with a critical glint in his eyes that narrowed sharply onto the ultimate life form. Though he was Sonic's twin, his eyes were nothing of his. They were so deadly and strict, one could easily tell who was who by looking at their faces. This guy was the epitome of a stern authoritarian. "Of course, if you'd like," His tone was starting to sound inviting. "You could try to take me down, and escape with Sonic prime right now."

"..." Shadow continued to glower, but didn't say anything back.

"Go ahead and try it," He warned. " _Convict._ " He insulted in a grave tone.

With his permission, Shadow gladly accepted it. An outburst of red chaos energy bellowed throughout the entire floor. The shock wave of it made all of his soldiers lose their balance or fall a good distance away. Sonic and Zonic were the only ones who kept their balance. Sonic looked troubled and worried, while Zonic didn't really seem to care. The ultimate life form chaos controlled from his sight and appeared right in front of Zonic. The blue hero cried out for Shadow to stop. "Shadow don't! You'll hurt-" Then, he stopped himself from talking because, he realized Zonic wasn't afraid.

He was going to handle this situation smoothly.

Before Shadow could strike with a fist, Zonic darted his hand to his forearm and watched as sparks of red energy disrupted throughout Shadow's body. Just by touching him, he screwed up his wavelengths and depleted them significantly. Completely caught off guard by this, Shadow could only watch in utter shock as the blue leader turned and swung his leg into the side of his head. The black and red hedgehog was easily knocked over and planted onto the ground. He was forcefully pushed and thrown on his stomach, face down on the floor. His wrists were yanked and pinned behind his back, while Zonic was knelt over him, holding him down. He was holding down Shadow with one hand while pointing his stick directly into the back of his head with the other.

Both Sonic and Shadow were flabbergasted.

Zonic then shoved his foot on the back of his quills, and forced him to taste the ground. "It seems that you skipped school the day they taught basic mannerisms." He scowled. "Let it never be said that you're allowed to talk to an officer that way. Let it never be said that you're allowed to threaten anybody in _my_ facility." He crushed his foot on his head even harder, making Shadow grunt in pain. "You must be an outsider, because you obviously don't know who you're threatening. Care to do your research before making threats." He took his foot off the back of his head and reached to grab hold of Shadow's shoulder. He roughly pulled him on his back and placed his foot square on his chest so he couldn't move. He pointed his night stick to himself and announced who he was. "I am **Lieutenant General Zonic** , top commander of the zone cops, second in command of No Zone prison and No Zone Corp! I suggest you remember that the very second you dare to try and address me in any kind of way ever again!"

All Shadow could do was grit his teeth and hold his tongue. This hedgehog, he was strong. He was no push over like everyone else. The officers that were blown away, marched over and aimed weapons at the dark hedgehog. Then, the lieutenant general glared at Sonic who meekly stood by against the wall and watched the whole thing.

" _Sonic prime_ ," He sounded like an angry mother ready to discipline her children. "How dare you bring this hoodlum on my grounds? Who is this?" He demanded. Sonic yelped at his tone and gulped.

"L-Look," He stuttered, but made a brave face to counter his twin's furious expression. "He's my," His cheeks went a little rosy. "Really close friend," He really hoped Shadow wouldn't take that to heart. They had to talk about that later. "And I brought him here with me because he's helping me. He's my partner. And he was carrying one of your officers here because we found him unconscious in anti-Mobius." He watched one of his men get a little too close to Shadow with their weapon and tried to make them stop. " _No!_ Wait, seriously! His name is Shadow and he's never been here before. He doesn't know how things in No Zone work. I swear to you, he's not evil and he's not mind controlled either. Heck, neither am I!" He said desperately. Zonic's became a little less violent and more attentive. "Listen, we just wanted to come here to see if you would help us. If you want us to go through security measures or whatever, that's fine. Just don't hurt him or arrest him. He means a lot to me, okay?"

His blue twin closed his eyes and sighed. He got off of Shadow and took a step back. "...At ease." He announced to his soldiers, who put down their weapons and stood back. He allowed for Shadow to get up on his own and dust himself off. He still looked pissed, both at Sonic for putting him in the friend zone and at his humiliation. But personally, he was taken aback by this hedgehog's power. Damn, he just made himself ten times more attractive. "Well, with that display of chaotic power, I know for sure you're not one of his lackeys. That proves to me that you're this world's counterpart to **Lieutenant General Zhadow**. He's the one you carried on your back here." He held up his hand and signaled for his soldiers to disperse and carry on with their normal duties. They were no longer needed to be escorts. "I already recognized Shadow Prime, as I've seen him interact with you before on my monitors. Besides, chaos energy disrupts Scourge's ability. And none of his minions have the power to use chaos like you both do. I just didn't know for sure if he was the real deal, or an imposter." He looked at Sonic's restrained wrists and made a blank stare. "You can break out of those now, Sonic prime."

"H-How'd ya know I could do that?" Sonic did as he said and broke them apart easily, freeing himself. He rubbed his wrists and walked with Zonic and Shadow down the hall.

"Because I know you." Was all he said. "Obviously, you both aren't the average people to arrest. Handcuffs aren't enough for you two. Anyway," He continued on. "Just follow me in my office, and we'll have a proper meeting."

* * *

The office was big enough, a clean white room with a large wooden desk. White polished floors, white painted walls and a couple of windows with black blinds. Two lockers were aligned against the walls, and there was a black door in the back of the room. It was locked, and it led to another part of the office. The desk was a deep wooden color, and there was a lone laptop that stood on top of it with files and documents laid neatly in an organized pile. A black office chair was behind it, with one small picture frame that was turned on its face so it wouldn't reveal the picture inserted in it. Next to it, was a pink box with a white ribbon tied around it. On the wall behind the desk was a bulletin board. There wasn't anything important on it, just pictures of fellow soldiers with nice things to say about their commander. Interestingly, some had hearts on them. There were two beige colored sofas in front of it for visitors. Zonic unlocked his office door and allowed the two hedgehog to walk inside. He locked it back so they all could have some privacy and walked to his chair.

Sonic and Shadow sat down in front of him and laid back. Due to the nonsense that just happened, they felt like they needed to relax for a second. With a tired sigh, Sonic tried to smile and looked at his partner. "Welp, Shadow this is Zonic. He's the friend I was talking about. We're like this." He interlocked his fingers together with a silly grin to gesture their close relationship. "I visited this place a few times. The first time I met Zonic, he actually almost arrested me, heheh." He laughed. "After that, I helped him when they were fighting a war against some weird guy who looked like Egghead, but he's long gone now." He looked at Zonic and smiled. "Ever since then, we were tight."

Shadow looked at Zonic for his introduction. Both he and the zone cop were making vacant looks at each other. Feeling like the moment became awkward, Sonic moved on to his buddy. "Zonic, this is Shadow. You know, you met him earlier." Once he said that, the room became silent again. Holy shit this was uncomfortable. "A-And uh," Sonic stammered. "He helped me saved my world dozens of times. We hang out all the time and," His face turned pink again that day. "Well, he would have came here even if I didn't ask him to. He actually volunteered to help me personally. Scourge came to Mobius prime, and he wanted to help me stop him. But we came to you because we don't know what to do."

"..." Zonic didn't respond back, he only stared. It was such a dull expression, Sonic couldn't tell what he was thinking. And then he suddenly started talking. "Oh, that's what this is about." His voice was so uncaring, that Shadow winced at his tone. "I understand, Sonic prime." He said simply, without any depth. What happened to that strict barking persona from earlier? Was this the real him? Shadow felt his attraction to him dim down little by little. "I had a feeling he gave you trouble." He frowned, showing some concern. "I am sorry, but I don't have any idea about what's happened to anyone in your world. My monitors were glitched with some kind of encryption. The warden is trying to fix it as we speak. And not only that," He said gruelingly. "Your anti-self wrecked No Zone HQ again and kidnapped some of my men. That's why I was so relieved that you carried Lieutenant General Zhadow's body here. He was one of our missing men. Before anti-Sonic left, he destroyed all of our warp rings. My engineers are trying to work on them as well."

"Yeah, about that," Sonic scratched the top of his head. "That wasn't a real attack, it was fake. He wanted to kidnap your soldiers. Apparently he wants to study your uniforms." He said sadly, before perking back up instantly and huffing in excitement. "Speaking of which..! Where'd you get those uniforms!? You all look so freaking cool! They're a thousand times cooler than your old ones!" He chimed.

Zonic made a small smile at Sonic's childish nature. "I requested the warden to have them made. You see, this isn't the first attack he's made. Almost a month ago, that's when I found that my monitors weren't working anymore. He made a smaller attack which caused a riot in the prison down below. At the time, I was on vacation, like you. The warden forced me to leave when I started to pass out from exhaustion from working too many hours." Zonic made a small growl at what he said next. "When I returned, things were in shambles. It looked far worse than now. I discovered that it was due to how frail and powerless our suits and weapons were. My monitors weren't working, so I couldn't check to see if you were okay. I was so angry, I marched to the warden's office and demanded that he change our uniforms and equipment. I'll explain that later, but that's probably why you didn't recognize me at first."

"Oh.." Sonic said in a rather glum tone. He didn't realize those cool uniforms only came to be because of such a crappy incident.

"We do have a plan that I'll inform you on later, but please, allow me to give you my utmost respect." He declared as he stood out of his seat and walked around to stand in front of the two. The blue hedgehog twin saluted, before placing a hand on his heart and bowing his head low to the two. "Please forgive me for giving you such a rude welcome." He lifted his head up to Sonic. "You are more than a friend to me, Sonic prime, and you know I value our friendship tremendously. Forgive me for suspecting you." He looked at Shadow and made a smile that was similar to how Sonic smiled. That right there put chills in Shadow's legs. He really didn't expect a guy like him to smile like that. "And you, Shadow prime," He addressed honorably before getting on one knee to bow his head to him again. "Forgive me for getting physical with you. With everything that's happened lately, I couldn't be too sure. I only wanted to ensure that you were not a threat." He stood up and held up a gloved hand to Shadow. "But anyone who is a close friend of Sonic prime's, is a friend of mine as well. I hope that we can mend our newfound friendship."

Shadow stared at his hand, before reaching and grabbing hold of it to shake it. "Err, yes," He said hesitantly. "I hope so as well."

Sonic clapped his hands a few times with a smile of his own. "Wow, look at you! Mister sociable over here."

Zonic's smile flattened and made a small glare at his twin. "Something you're trying to imply, Sonic prime?"

The ebony hedgehog narrowed his eyes and looked over at Sonic. "..?"

Sonic laughed at both of their reactions. "When he introduced himself to me the first time we met, he was like this." The hero cleared his throat and made the blankest, most mundane expression he could muster. "'Hello Sonic prime, pleased to meet you. I am elite officer Zonic, I hope you feel welcomed here in No Zone.'" Throughout that sentence, he made sure his voice was as monotonous as possible. He exaggerated a bit to make it sound more robotic. Shadow tried his best not to laugh at his impersonation.

"Oh please." Zonic's voice was almost the same way, thus proving Sonic's point. "I sound nothing like that." He rolled his eyes.

"Heh," Shadow snickered. This Zonic, he was interesting. He'd keep an eye on him.

"Moving on," He said as he walked over to the back of the room. The two hedgehogs stifled their laughter and stood up to follow him. The door in the back that was locked, he was taking out the keys for it right now. "Allow me to give you a grand tour of No Zone HQ. After that, we'll do lunch." He pushed the key inside the lock and turned it to the side before taking it out and putting it back in his pocket. "First, my office and the _monitor room of all realities._ " When he led them inside, it was a special sight to be seen here. Sonic had already seen it before, but it didn't matter. This was definitely one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen, no matter how many times he saw it.

Shadow saw hundreds and hundreds of monitors all across the walls, some were even on the floors. Every screen had a different environment playing before them. People, animals and things that looked other worldly. Some screens showed realities of other Sonics, and other Tails' and Knuckles' and more! Some were weirder and more breathtaking than the zone they were in right now. It was mind blowing! A couple lone monitors had static showing, unable to show what they were broadcasting. Shadow assumed those were the monitors that looked over Mobius prime.

This was the room that watched all realities of their multiverse. And they were just granted access to them.

Zonic made a small smirk to their speechlessness, and promised them something more grand.

"You haven't seen anything yet," He guaranteed. "This is just the start."

* * *

 **END - 13**

 **Don't forget to review.**

 **I gave the Zone Cops new and improved uniforms because I think the ones they have in the comics are a bit silly looking. I wanted them to have new cool modifications, too. Besides, _they're going to need them._**

 **Also, can someone tell me the reference I made in the last chapter?**

1\. Sonic was nearly arrested before by Zonic, while Scourge was arrested by him more than once.

 **Sorry, only one difference for this chapter!**


	14. What Are We?

**14 - What Are We?**

* * *

After seeing the monitor room, Shadow was pretty convinced that this place really was awesome. Even if he did get a rude welcome at first. On the monitors showed untold various places. Worlds that looked similar, worlds that looked different. Actually, he wasn't too sure, but he thought he caught a glimpse of a world where all of the males were females, and the females were males. He swore he saw a female version of Sonic, he swore he did. Anyway, Moebius was there too. It was simply marvelous. After Zonic showed them the monitor room, he took them out of his office and they traveled to the armory of the HQ. The place was locked down tight, accompanied with thick large metal doors and two buff looking soldiers standing in front of it. A big red light above the doors was there, but it wasn't lit. The moment they saw their commander walking up to it, they stepped aside automatically. Zonic then proceeded to take out a transmitter to contact the person on the other side of the doors to let them in. Sonic was so proud that he had a hotshot _lieutenant general_ as a best friend. Speaking of which, he meant to ask about that.

After Zonic put away a walkie-talkie looking device in his quills, Sonic took that chance to ask him. "Hey, when'd you get four stars with the rank lieutenant general? Last I checked, you were just an 'elite', whatever that means."

"That _is_ quite impressive." Shadow commented.

Zonic shrugged. "All I can say is persistence. I always wanted to be the general, but since the warden's basically the main general of our branches, I could only ever become lieutenant general. I strived so much for it, that I worked hard to get it. Soon, I was getting promoted more often, and I went up the ranks rather quickly." He turned to Sonic. "Around the time before my vacation, that's when I got promoted to my current rank now. That's why I worked myself to the bone, I had a lot of work to do just to get started." He turned back to the thirteen feet tall doors and sighed. "Plus, officer Zhadow helped me work harder too. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be at his level of authority."

"You keep talkin' about that guy. You two partners or somethin'?" Sonic asked as the two metal doors slid away from each other to allow them in. Zonic motioned for the two hedgehogs to follow him as they talked.

"Actually, yes, we are. At first we didn't see each other as much because of how low I was on the pecking order. I was only a private when I first met him. Tch, he barely even noticed me..." From his tone, it sounded like he was a bit salty or upset about that. This made the two hedgehogs take that to mind. "But, seeing him do so many wonderful things for the people of No Zone inspired me to be more like him. So I forced myself to do better and do more. Soon, he noticed me, and helped me along the way because of my potential." He stopped walking and allowed the others to keep going. He made another smirk. They'd probably like this part as well.

On the walls of the armory were weapons. On the _ceiling_ of the armory, were weapons. On the floor, were crates and barrells of weapons or ammunition. To put it simply, there were weapons. Lots and _lots_ of 'em. Definitely suited for an entire army. They didn't even look like the normal weapons GUN soldiers used. No, these bad boys looked like something from out of a video game. They were incredible, just unreal and out of this world-err, reality. Some looked so advanced, Sonic was too scared to poke 'em. Zonic made a small chuckle. "It is alright, Sonic prime, you may touch them. None of them are armed until ammunition is put inside. They're all empty." He pointed out. Shadow was having a field day in here, and the zone cop could see it. It was so obvious, and it was cute to see someone like him fanboy over them. Well, fanboy wasn't really a good word. It was more like, staring profusely and silently with wide eyes while having his arms crossed. But he could tell he was having a nice time.

Not only were weapons here, but so was their new equipment. Zonic explained to them the new modifications. "Here we have the very things that make us as fast as you two. Sonic prime actually inspired me to make this suggestion to the engineers." He pointed to a pair of footwear that girl soldier was wearing earlier. "They can switch gravity modes on and off very easily from your world's degree angle, to our normal ninety degree angle. This allows us to travel up and down buildings and ceilings. Similar to our spatial stabilizers. They're the things that make you walk like us. Thanks to them, we're able to round up convicts a lot more quickly, giving them less time to get away." He elaborated. "Then there's the classic control collars," He pointed a few feet away to some metallic collars. "We use them on any dangerous high threat level inmates with unstable power. It basically drains it away. Scourge was the only inmate we've ever had with a high level control collar."

Zonic then held out his hand and pointed to his own palm. "And this," He pulled up his sleeve and revealed the gauntlet to the hedgehogs who peered at it curiously. "Is a control gauntlet, specifically for people who use chaos energy. To disrupt it, or render the user powerless. It also shoots lasers that produce the same effect." He looked at Shadow specifically. No wonder he felt tired the second he grabbed his hand when he charged at him earlier. "It also gives the wearer physical strength that grows each time they use it. Not only that, but if one wears it long enough, the strength the wearer gains remains for a while even if they take it off."

"Woah." Sonic said breathlessly. "That's _so,_ freaking, cool."

"That's kinda what happened to me since I trained a lot, I rarely took them off." Zonic slipped the gloves off of his hands and placed them in his pocket along with his transmitter. "That effect wasn't intended, but it's definitely useful."

The Mobian twin of the two blue hedgehogs nodded his head, thinking that sounded about right. "I was wondering why you guys were running fast like that."

To this, Shadow raised a brow. "What, you normally can't do that?"

Zonic shook his head. "I do not possess Sonic prime's speed. No one here did until a few weeks ago. To be honest, we're still getting the hang of things, but we're making good progress." Suddenly a beeping sound resonated throughout the room. They all looked upwards on the right of the room to see a large digital clock on the wall. How the hell did they miss that huge thing? Probably because of all the weapons cluttered in the room. Zonic made a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." He murmured. "If you both don't mind, we'll stop by my office again to drop off my uniform. Lunch time has arrived sooner than I expected, meaning we'll resume the tour after we're done eating."

Sonic shrugged with a grin. "Pfft, I don't mind. I was gettin' hungry anyway. Not like we ate breakfast." He looked over at Shadow who for some reason refused to look his way.

"Hmph. Indeed." He grumbled back, barely paying Sonic any mind. This made the other furrow his brows with a frown. What was his deal? He paid more attention to Zonic than Sonic for some reason. "Why do you want to change your uniform?"

"Well, when the clock strikes twelve noon, the warden is out for the next few hours. Meaning we don't have to act so strict and follow all of the rules. So I like to take off this uniform when he's not here. The uniform is a nice change but, it makes me sweaty and it's a bit too tight sometimes." He explained as he guided them out of the spacious room. He motioned for the guards standing in front of the entrance to close it up tight like it was last time before walking away with his two guests. "He's always watching and listening, so we all have to be careful of what we say or do."

"Oh, is that why you speak like that?" Shadow asked.

"Talk like what?" Zonic blinked, his monotonous tone crawling back again.

The ebony hedgehog just shook his head, basically saying what he asked wasn't important. He couldn't believe he didn't notice it himself. Guess it really was just him. "Nothing." He mumbled.

* * *

Soon, the three returned to Zonic's office and stood outside of it to wait for him to change. He would be a minute, so Sonic had the idea to talk to Shadow about what may have been bothering him. He seemed pissed at him. Sonic leaned against the wall, saying hi to some fellow soldiers as they walked by. He noticed that a lot of them weren't wearing that black uniform they digitized in from earlier. They were all just wearing casual clothes. Some people didn't even bother wearing pants, like him and Shadow. Even some females felt a little risky and wore skirts or nothing at all. He had to say...He may have been _playing on a different team_ right now, but uh, he still very much appreciated the female figure. He had to calm himself down a little, heh.

But on a more serious note, he turned to his partner, who was leaning against the opposite side of the wall across from Zonic's office and had his arms crossed like usual. Well, it was now or never. "Hey, Shadow?" He called softly. Shadow didn't respond, he only glanced at him once and looked somewhere else. "Ehh, you alright buddy? You still ticked off about Zonic flippin' you?"

"Interesting. Is a 'buddy' all I am?" He questioned harshly with a glare. "Or what? A 'pal' or 'bro'? Or whatever other ridiculous name you give to your friends."

Ouch. He was starting to sound like the old Shadow. The Shadow he knew before they got close. Sonic just started to shake his head with a confused face. "What? No no, you know we're closer than that."

"Oh, so we're 'tight' now? Like you and the commander?" He retorted.

"What's gotten into you..?" Sonic replied with bewilderment. What, did he say something?

"If that's what you refer to your partners to after you've been intimate with them, then no wonder your relationships all failed miserably." Shadow spat, turning his head away from him callously. Sonic felt his chest swell up a little, and it was beating fast. Not in the good way, either. He was starting to feel it again, remembering all those times he made someone cry or made them angry. Or like that time when he ignored a girl by doing too much hero stuff at a time, making her dump him the night he bought her something. Or like that time when he was cheated on simply because she got bored with him. Or like that time when that other girl _did things_ with him and then dumped him just because he didn't want to go all the way that first night.

Oh Chaos, it was all coming back and it was starting to hurt. It was hurting so bad, he couldn't take it.

...He couldn't let Shadow see that side of him. He felt Dark's influence feed off of his guilt and sadness, but he couldn't let himself turn. No, he'd act cool and calm. Put on a fake smile, like always. Make everyone think everything was okay even though they weren't.

Ha, after all, he does it all the time. Not like this was any different, right?

Noticing Sonic's emotionless face and complete silence for the past couple of minute, Shadow put his attention back on him. Okay, he was a little concerned about that. He never just stopped talking before. Not like _that_. Not with that face. Even his ears drooped a little. The damage was already done but, now that he thought about it, what he said was a low blow. He knew that.

"Haha," Sonic suddenly chuckled with a smile. But, this wasn't one of his normal smiles. It was fake, very very fake. As time between them passed, Shadow grew to learn when Sonic faked a smile or not. But this one was sadly evident. "Oh, I see what the problem is." He sighed to himself and looked to the side. "I kinda friend-zoned you earlier, didn't I?"

Someone like Shadow normally wouldn't know what the hell a friend-zone was, but thanks to Rouge, he knew all about it. What a terrible hellish limbo to be stuck in. He didn't respond back, though.

"Yeah," Sonic answered for him. "I had a feeling that was it." He faced Shadow and tried to step a little closer, away from the wall he previously leaned on. "Sorry about that, really. Listen, Shadow, I didn't mean it that way. I swear-"

Shadow growled at that. "Then why'd you say it?"

"B-Because I," Sonic's muzzle turned pink. "It's, really personal to explain."

"What we did last night was personal, but I sure as hell don't give a damn. I don't care who knows about it. Actually, I _want_ people to know about it." He said sharply. "I finally have you, you're mine. We may not have said those key words, but it doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure after what we did, I deserve a much better title than 'a close friend.' People who do things like that aren't just friends, faker." He sarcastically used air quotes with his fingers as a rude gesture. "You mean a lot more to me than just that, and I thought I made that clear yesterday."

Sonic tried to explain one more time. "I know that, but I-"

"What, you're ashamed of being in a relationship with someone like me? Scared it'll ruin your hero image?"

Damn, another low blow. Not as low as the last one but, low enough. Sonic was put in the friend zone before once upon a time, and it did hurt. It hurt like a bitch, it did. Kinda why he wasn't too hard on Amy when she annoyed him but, this was different. He understood where Shadow was coming from, but he had to understand his point of view as well. "No, no and no." Sonic repeated. "I don't care about that, especially not now. While it's nice that you don't care about what anyone might say about us, I do." He emphasized the 'I' part. "And no, it's not because of my status or whatever. I mean, yeah, it might screw up my reputation back in Mobius, but I don't really give a damn either. Not enough to hide it like a bad disease. I'm offended you think I'm that shallow." Shadow noticed, Sonic didn't sound angry as he said this. He sounded more sad and disappointed. "If I tell my friends about you, they'll judge me. And I know I shouldn't care about their judgement all that much, but still. It'll hurt to see my friends hate me or avoid me just because I'm with someone I love-Err, like a lot."

That little slip up in his words made Shadow perk his ears up at that.

"I...Damn it.." He cursed, his fake smile dropping instantly. He couldn't keep up that charade anymore. "This is, _really_ really personal shit here." He was being serious. He dropped that nice guy act too. "I-I've never said stuff like this to anyone, okay? And try not to throw it back in my face later along the lines, deal?" He said bitterly and sighed tensely. Chaos he hated being in love, it was always one big mess. Only, this time he felt something real. All those other times he thought he was in love, he realized he didn't have true feelings for that person anyway. That's why he never mourned for too long after the break ups. There was only one that broke his heart, that really shattered him. But, after a week, he didn't feel like that anymore. He questioned why he ever felt for that person that way in the first place. But Shadow, he really felt something for him.

And that's why he never asked him out first when they started getting close, because he was too afraid of history repeating itself.

"It's not just that either."

Shadow tried to stop him from going any further. "Faker-"

"No, just listen." Sonic cut him off immediately. "I don't want to tell everyone I'm with you, and then a week later we're over." He hugged his arms to his chest and bit his lip. "Because, that's happened to me. People who I'm seriously into, they drop me like extra baggage. Only after dating a week, or a day. Using me or just getting bored or impatient with me. I've gone through it way too many times, and I don't want it to happen again. Hell, a girl once broke up with me _because_ I told people we were in a relationship." All he could do was continue to blow air out of his mouth from all the stress, just to calm himself down. It actually felt better to finally let that out. "I know I shouldn't keep comparing you to past mistakes, but I gotta learn from them too, ya know?" He laughed a little. "A guy gets insecure sometimes. Or all the time, in this case."

From all that, Shadow only had one more thing to say. "...Yeah, you really are insecure." He said with wide eyes.

That, didn't make Sonic feel any better though. And to that, he didn't say anything. He already knew he was right. Shadow noticed his lack of response and tried his best to resolve this issue. It was just another argument among them, a thing rivals often did, right? "I know it's not your fault that you're like this. Trauma changes a person in due time. Though, you hide this side of you very well. Never did I notice this until now." Shadow grunted as he got off the wall and went to Sonic's side. He stood by him, his arms still crossed over his chest. "Gerald always said that those who smiled the most, held the most pain. Maria was a prime subject of that, and so are you. But this is something you've already told me before. You think like this all the time, you just repress it. But that smile, it's all just a mask, right?" The ultimate life form smiled to himself. "I think the only thing you don't question is your actions when you're in combat. Everything else you ponder about every second of the day. But, you're right. You have a lot of people in your life who can be quick to judge you for whatever you do. The citizens of Mobius are a big portion of that, and the media probably wouldn't be too kind on us."

Sonic still wouldn't say anything. His face was darkened at this point, but Shadow didn't stop.

"I guess I should have been a bit more open minded to your perspective, and not so myopic. I should have known better than to suspect you of being that way. That's not the kind of person you are." When Shadow saw that fewer and fewer zone cops were walking past, he took this opportunity to get in front of Sonic and grab one of his hands gently. "Perhaps you're right. We shouldn't let anyone know yet. Besides, we haven't done much as a 'couple' to even be considered one. I'm sure you thought that too." He put his other hand under Sonic's chin and softly pushed his chin upwards to look at him in the eyes. "But I guarantee you, I won't desert you like they did. Definitely not after one week. Not even less than a month. You gave me a chance, and I took it gratefully. Isn't it only fair to give you the same?" He leaned in and kissed the side of his mouth. "I am sorry. And I won't throw your past in your face again, I promise."

The hero exhaled silently. "Good.." Was all he said. He looked almost like Zonic, now. Uncaring and detached. He was probably just tired of confessing crap to Shadow all the time. It was emotionally exhausting. "I really, _really_ like you, Shadow. I can't stress that enough to you." Even his voice was low and downbeat. "I hope you realize now that I wouldn't do anything to screw this up. I care about you way too much." Small parts of his muzzle were turning pink from the way Shadow was caressing him.

"I shouldn't have to make you explain yourself to me all the time. Again, I'm sorry." The elder apologized once more, pinning one of Sonic's hands against the wall, the one he was holding onto. His nose brushed the tip of the other's playfully, and dived in for a kiss. It was tender, but quick. "Forgive me." He whispered, going back in for another kiss. Suddenly, Sonic reached up and dug his hand into Shadow's chest fur. He really liked grabbing that place, did he? He tugged on it and yanked Shadow closer, deepening the kiss. His aggressiveness made Shadow let go of his hand and grab his waist instead. Sonic put his arms around Shadow and held onto him tightly. Tongues clashed together and fought in their mouths. But just as they went further into their make out session, they heard Zonic's voice from inside his office.

"Sonic prime? Shadow prime? I'm almost done, I just had to put away a few files. I'll be out in a second."

The two barely even cared, they just broke the kiss with saliva still connected to their mouths. Their eyes were low, and they didn't really pay attention. However, that meant they couldn't continue for long, or else their secret would be out. They really didn't want to stop though. Sonic smirked a little, which made the string of spit that connected their mouths break off. "Hey, you should totally do me on the wall." That, made Shadow chuckle. That was the Sonic he knew.

"Keep talking like that and I just might."

Sonic lips his lips hungrily. "Damn, that's kinda hot..."

"Shame we can't do it now, though." Shadow referenced to their third party who could come out at any second and see them like this. He let go of Sonic and moved a few centimeters away from him. He didn't move that much, though. "I never thought you'd be into public sex."

"Pfft, I'm not. I'm too chicken to get caught." Then a thought occurred to him. "Then again," He made a devious look at Shadow. "Maybe we should try it one day."

"Maybe." Shadow replied coolly before reaching behind Sonic's back and giving a good squeeze to _you-know-where_. Sonic made a small gasp of surprise. Nope, he still couldn't get used to that, no matter how many times his ass was grabbed. He just snickered, feeling a little flirtatious. He had no idea why Shadow liked touching him there so much, it wasn't even that big. Not like a girl's anyway.

"Alright you two, my apologies for the wait." The zone cop said as he stepped from out of his office, closing and locking the door behind him. Once he did, Sonic and Shadow's mouth hung open. He was only wearing the undershirt of his uniform, a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and barely buttoned. Then they looked down, and realized that just like them, he was no longer wearing any pants. Guess he wanted to feel free for a little bit like everyone else. Why did no one like pants, here? Then again, that sounded a bit hypocritical considering Shadow and Sonic never wore any.

Only, the problem with Zonic was that he had a very nice backside. Like, _really_ nice. And that was putting it lightly. That's when it hit him. Is that why Shadow liked to grope him there? Because if Zonic and Sonic were exactly physically alike, then that meant that his butt was just as nice as his. Wow. Looking at it from a different pair of eyes made him realize that he really was a good catch. He suddenly felt really good about himself.

For Shadow, it was almost like he could see everything in slow motion. The way he moved, the way he spoke, the way he _breathed._ Holding up that night stick thing on his shoulder like some kind of sword. He looked so uncompromising, which was a solid plus for the ultimate life form. His peach chest revealed, yet not. Such unforgivable teasing. And the way he walked past them, Shadow saw it all. The way his ass perfectly went up and down-

"Sonic prime? Shadow prime. Are you both listening to me?"

It was like wind was blowing through his quills, making him seem all the more tantalizing.

"Oh," Zonic looked beside them to see one of his soldiers holding a large circular fan in his arms. He looked like he was struggling. "So there was an outlet nearby for you to plug it in?"

The soldier nodded quickly. "Yes sir. Near your office. The cord's pretty long. It's old, but it still works."

"Great. Could you unplug it and put it in front of my door?" He asked politely. The soldier struggled to salute while carrying the fan with one arm, but he managed.

"Of course, sir!" He wobbled to the direction of his room.

"Now, back to you two." Zonic turned and looked at the two hedgehogs with a rigid scowl. "Were you listening?"

"N..No..." Both Shadow and Sonic could barely get that out. They were too distracted. Even though Zonic's head held a vein throb ready to pop with his eye beginning to twitch, his shadowed expression alone told them just how peeved he was.

* * *

It's been fifteen minutes.

Shadow's been staring at Zonic, for _fifteen minutes_ straight.

Zonic had escorted them both to the mess hall. It was a pretty nice place for a military cafeteria. Everyone looked like they were being themselves, too. No one was in uniform, no one was acting like a soldier. Everyone was relaxed and even having fun. This was basically everyone's lunch break. However, some portions of the army had specific schedules. Not every soldier had their lunch break at the same time and were still on patrol, should an outbreak or riot occur. It was a vital safety measure, since it would be easy for an attack to happen right under their noses while they'd be distracted by lunch time.

The cafeteria wasn't extravagant, but it was spotless. Sonic and Shadow assumed some were assigned to clean the place, while some were punished into cleaning duty. Surfaces of the tables were shiny, and so were the floors. The food was pretty nice, much better than the pantry crap back in Moebius. Zonic even ordered Sonic a chili dog, made especially for him with all his favorite toppings. He overheard a fellow soldier comment that the only reason why the food's so good, is because the warden's a 'fat-ass slab of lard'. Well, despite their harsh words, they were probably right.

So now, Sonic, Shadow and Zonic's right hand men were sitting at his private table. Reserved for only the best of the best, and the commander himself. Sonic was going to try and introduce Zespio and Zector to Shadow, but he was too busy staring at Zonic. They were going to apologize earlier for the way he was treated and the rude welcome, but they couldn't even get his attention. Zonic wasn't even at the table, he was at least a few yards away talking to one of his other soldiers. He was holding an open water bottle in one hand, and it's top in the other.

Sonic just stared at him with the most incredulous expression on his face. Yeah, okay, they got it. Zonic looks exactly like him, they wee basically identical twins. So he got why he would be so attracted to him, but why is he making goo-goo eyes at him? This was starting to get weird, and old. He never looked at Sonic like that. He only glanced at him like that when they...did things last night. What, did he want to do the same thing to Zonic, too?

"Um, Shads," Sonic tried to get his attention by nudging his elbow in his arm. He was gentle at first. "Shads, Mobius to Shadow.." He tried again a bit louder, while making his nudges more aggressive, but to no avail. He sucked in a deep breath and bit his lip, before taking his elbow and shoving it right into his chest. Both Zespio and Zector's eyes widened at that. " _Shadow_." Sonic growled lowly.

That elbow in the chest was barely cushioned by his chest fur. Shadow made a slight cough, before whipping his head over at Sonic. He saw the pissed off look on his face, and he felt a sweat drop coming along. "Err, yes. Sorry." He quickly apologized. "What were you saying again?"

"I _said-_ "

"Sonic prime?" Zonic's voice cut through instantly. Everyone at the table looked up and saw him leaning one hand on the table, while holding the water bottle near his mouth. The cap of the bottle was in between his fingers. He was standing right next to Shadow, his hip nearly rubbing against his shoulder. "Your food is ready at the counter. It is reserved so that no one else will mistake it for theirs. Be sure to give thanks to the chefs." After he said that, he brought the bottle up to his lips. They were already moist thanks to the water, and when he placed it in his mouth, Shadow felt something rise from below. His attraction for him was getting worse, far worse. After taking a few gulps, he took it from his mouth and licked his lips. Man, work always made him thirsty.

"I," Shadow found himself hesitant in his own words. He cleared his throat to start the sentence over, and got ready to stand up. "I'll get it." He said as he stood up abruptly. But, when he did, he accidentally knocked his own shoulder into Zonic's arm on the way up. The very arm that held the bottle. With a small grunt of surprise, water splashed all over the zone cop. It got all over his shirt, and the rest of his torso. Some even got on his face. Zonic managed to keep his hold on the bottle, but most of it's contents were on him, or on the floor.

Shadow roamed his eyes up and down his drenched body, seeing it all drip down from his legs. Absolutely luscious. Zonic made a disgruntled look and sighed while trying to wipe his face with the back of his arm.

"My apologies." Shadow said immediately.

Zector, his crocodile elite made a worried expression, a bit fearful of his irritated mood. "B-Boss, you alright?"

"It's fine, a simple accident." Zonic dismissed their concerns with a careless voice. He didn't see Sonic silently seething in the background.

* * *

"Alright, you two, listen up this time." The commander ordered with a stomp of his foot. Hilariously, his two elites saluted with a loud 'SIR!'. Whenever he did that with the heel of his boot, they knew what was up. After eating with for some reason a very awkward silence, Zonic suggested everyone at the table follow him back in his office. Sonic and Shadow needed to know what happened at No Zone over the past few months, and talk about exactly who they were dealing with so they can come up with a game plan.

Now they were sitting in front of his desk, looking at the bulletin board on the side of it. The elites Zespio and Zector both stood beside their commander and awaited any orders during his explanation. Zonic had taken out some files from his drawers and pinned them onto the board. He took his night stick and pointed to a written report. It didn't look that old, but a little dated. Looking a little closer, they could see it was written about some kind of incident. "Around the time you departed to go on vacation, I was forced to do the same due to physical exhaustion. During that time," As he made his exposition, he paced around the desk. "That was when Scourge made his first attack, and reared his head." He glanced at the chameleon soldier. "Colonel Zespio."

"Sir!" He nodded and scurried over to the desk. He grabbed some papers that were scattered about and neatly tucked them in a thin stack. He then stepped in front of Sonic and Shadow and handed a couple of documents to them. As they gleamed over them, their irises grew bigger in shock. They were given official pictures of No Zone HQ, destroyed.

Zonic tapped his night stick against his leg, with lowered eyes. "Scourge made a direct, devastating attack on both the HQ and the prison. He gathered up people from all over Moebius and formed them into the gang you see now. We'll go more into that later, but he had the numbers to inflict a lot of damage. No one died, thank goodness, but there were still some minor casualties. But a body count, was never intended."

"According to this," Shadow started to say. "There was more collateral damage on the building itself than actual soldiers. They demolished this place."

Sonic scowled at the file. "No wonder there's so many people doing construction. He didn't just wreck your place but-"

"Yes, he destroyed part of the city as well." Zonic walked back over to the board and pointed to another file. This time, it was a document with an insignia. It looked really important, but it reminded them of Eggman's symbol that was marked on all of his robots. "This insignia was made by the warden himself. This is his mark. He personally reported to me about the destruction that was caused while I was gone." He hissed as a sigh. "I'm sure you can imagine my temper at the time."

Zector scratched behind his scaled head while making a booming laughter. "Haha! You shoulda seen the look on Boss' face! He tore this place apart!"

Zespio nodded in agreement with a slim sense of disappointment. "Indeed. The entire HQ was dead silent when the commander walked in that office."

"I lit a fire under right under his seat." The commander spat. "He acted like he didn't even care, acting as if the _soldiers_ were collateral damage. I never once raised my voice to a superior, not until he told me that. He didn't even talk to me, he just threw a report in my face and told me to fix it." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Well, enough was enough. I did indeed suggest a few ideas, and that's where the new equipment came from."

Sonic looked over at Shadow and briefly informed him on how insufferable the warden was. "This is another version of Eggman. So basically, he's still a huge asshole."

"Hn." Shadow could pretty much figure that out on his own with the way Zonic was describing him. "He didn't give you a hard time about it?"

"That's the part where I lit his ass on fire, excuse my language." He tapped his night stick against the wall and pointed to it. "That's where I got this."

Sonic blinked a couple times. "You grilled him so bad that you made him make new uniforms and weapons, _and_ you got his night stick!?"

Zonic twirled it in his hand. "Yup. I made a few promising threats, and even threw you in, Sonic prime. I could have lost my job, but he knew better than to fire a soldier of my caliber."

"You used me as a threat in an argument?"

"Anyway-"

"H-Hey!"

"Needless to say, I got what I wanted. He promised to improve our army with new weapons and armor. I also forced him to use up some funds to help out in town. We managed to fix just about everything in the HQ, except for my monitors and Warp Rings." He sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his legs. "They were all hacked some how, now locked with encryptions." He then pointed the night stick over at another file on the board. "That's when, very recently, your anti-double attacked us again. This time, kidnapping some of our soldiers. We sent some of our men after him to try and get them back but," Zonic wistfully clenched his teeth, before exhaling heavily and closing his eyes. "I think we can all figure out what happened."

"Um," Sonic held up a finger, while softly interrupting. "Sorry to interrupt Z," He used that nickname tenderly. "But, was one of the guys who went after Scourge officer Zhadow?"

"Yes." His twin nodded with dejection. "That's why when you had him on your back Shadow-prime, I didn't know what to think." He was starting to sound a little more emotional, and not in a good way. No one got word about his condition yet, so he was probably worried sick. "I digress, but what's most important now is discussing our strategy." With a small huff, he hopped onto the desk and sat with his legs formed like a pretzel. He let his night stick stand up right on the surface while his other hand rested on his lap. "Alias Scourge, prisoner number seventeen, nicknamed and born 'Sonic' Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog, was arrested for the first time the day of his fifteenth birthday. He was released due to reasons of insanity, so he was placed in an asylum to have his mind mended. However..." Zonic seemed like he didn't need any document for this. He for some reason, knew all of this information by heart.

And that name, was that Scourge's real name? This made Shadow wonder, what was Sonic's real name? Or did they have the same name, but Sonic never knew because of the absence of his parents? Questions for later, he thought.

With a tiresome tone, Zonic continued. He didn't like talking about this. "At age sixteen, he faked his good behavior and the improvement of his sanity to be released even earlier than intended. From then on, is when he began to commit petty crimes. He robbed, he assaulted, and took on fake identities. Sonic prime can fill you in on that later."

The hero made a lopsided grin with a less than enthusiastic chuckle. "Ehh, good times.."

"He even took part in, well, very inappropriate offenses that I won't go into detail about. After disguising himself as Sonic-prime, he was beaten by yours truly," He gestured to Sonic by pointing his stick at him. "And was arrested by us. _However,_ " He dragged that word sarcastically. "He broke out of prison and went off to commit even more crimes. This was also around the time he found the female fox he made part of his entourage, Fiona. Now seventeen years old, he soon went back to robbery and vandalism, only this time, he and an unknown accomplice stole something precious from your world. Something called the Master Emerald."

Oh they knew who that unknown accomplice was. They knew her all too well. They didn't even looked surprised, they just sat there with bland expressions. Rouge was a clever woman, but sometimes even she had her idiotic moments.

"From that relic, he gained his mutation, which I'm sure you know made him turn green. That's when he once again, tried to assault and ultimately kill Sonic-prime. Of course he failed, and Sonic prime gave him to us personally." He opened his forest green eyes and stared over at the wall somewhere. "Despite my warnings to the warden, Scourge was underestimated, and was treated as a common maximum prisoner. Coincidentally, his lover Fiona was imprisoned along with him. Because we stripped him of his power and even snipped his quills, Scourge was treated poorly by not only the guards, but by other prisoners. That in itself, was a bad move." Zonic face palmed. "He should have been locked in solitary confinement, because he used his 'weakness' to his advantage. In all that time that he was mocked, or bullied, beaten or allegedly sexually harassed-"

"Wait _what?_ " Shadow and Sonic scrunched up their faces in unison with utter disgust. Zonic only rolled his eyes and groaned, that itself was a long story.

"D..Don't focus on that. It was just an unproven claim he made before the start of his first failed execution-"

" _First_ failed _execution?_ "

"Will you two shut up and listen?" Zonic growled lowly. "I'm not even halfway done with this. I'll try to sum up everything as efficiently and quickly as possible, but you're silence and attention is very much required."

They silently nodded, and Sonic even pretended to zip his lips closed.

"Thank you." His twin said more softly. "Scourge used his victimization to form his plan to escape No Zone Prison a second time, with the help of his lover. He tricked more prisoners into pitying him, while rising an idea to riot. Soon, more and more prisoners became riled up, and their sense of morale sky rocketed. Before we knew it, our equipment was stolen while some were destroyed. Prisoners started to free themselves of their cell blocks and caused havoc. But worst of all, Scourge regained his power, and escaped effortlessly along with Fiona." Zonic clenched his fists tightly. "That was the last time he was ever arrested and imprisoned, but that was over a year ago."

Sonic was taken aback, flinching at his words. He made a look of intense confusion and blinked several times. "Wha-Hu...No," He whispered. "You're lying to me, that couldn't have been a year ago!"

Zonic shook his head sadly. "His escape was exactly thirteen months ago, Sonic prime. Scourge only spent one year in prison. A little after his eighteenth birthday, he escaped. He's now nineteen, just like you. Though, after some studying, we found that his mutation made his body physically two years older than you, so he's technically twenty-one."

Shadow gently grasped Sonic's hand and tried getting his attention. "What's wrong?" He didn't answer back, and his face darkened. Shadow grimaced and pulled him a little closer. He leaned over a bit and whispered near his ear. "Faker, say something."

"...Hey," Sonic had that worried look again. "Hey Z, this time, how long was Scourge planning his revenge on me? And, is he actually a genius?"

That question, made Zonic's face flabbergasted with shock. That kind of question, was a little scary. However, they needed to know as much information about Scourge as possible, so he basically obliged. They wouldn't know everything yet, but all of the key elements.

He just hoped that it wouldn't ruin _their_ hopes in beating him.

* * *

 **END - 14**

 **Yaaay! More Sonadow goodness!**

 **Hey hey, reviews are special. Don't forget to do so please! I read 'em all.**

 **Anyway, Danganronpa references? Pfft I have no idea what you guys are talkin' about. I mean, it's not like I'm totally in love with the game/anime or anything, hahaha...Pupupu..Oh and speaking of which, yes, there was a genderbend reference as well.**

 **Bonus time, bonus time, bonus time-I said bonus time!**

1\. If it wasn't obvious, Sonic hates talking about his emotions or his past. Scourge on the other hand, doesn't give two shits about who knows what about him. He wouldn't even care if someone threw it back in his face.

 _2\. Apparently, a girlfriend once broke up with Sonic because he proudly told people they were together. He also runs down a longer list of why he had so many break ups in the past in this chapter. Like I said before, Sonic's love life in the comics is absolute shit, so that's why I made him insecure. (Hell, his love life sucks so bad, Robotnik even insulted Sonic about it one time. It's shiiiit. As an example, I even referenced Sally Acorn in this chapter, when I wrote that 'a girl once broke up with him because he was doing too much hero work', 'one that really broke his heart' and 'I don't want to tell everyone we're together, and then a week later, we're over'. Sonic and Sally broke up/argued dozens of times in the comics for stupid reasons. It became frequent at one point.) Scourge, has dealt with similar problems before, but it was usually vice versa._ He's _the heart breaker._

3\. There seems to be an anti and No Zone counterpart to everyone in Mobius prime. While it is said that there is indeed an anti-Shadow, he's yet to make an appearance in the comics (And probably never will since the writer of the No Zone and Anti worlds is gone. Sucks, I know.). So Scourge has never met him, and probably never will... _Maybe..._

 _4\. It seems that all Sonic counterparts are attractive to Shadow, including Scourge. Let's not forget that in the beginning of the story, Shadow hesitated in attacking him and even had an urge to kiss him even though he knew he was an imposter in disguise._

 _5\. Both Sonic and Scourge can get jealous pretty easily. Scourge is just, more violent and angry about it, while Sonic tries to keep his mouth shut._

6\. Scourge's real name is 'Sonic' Olgivie Maurice Hedgehog. In the comics, this is _Sonic's_ real name. But in this story, Sonic prime's life is more based on the games, while anti-Sonic is more based on the comics, so I gave him the real name instead. Sonic doesn't know what his real name is.

7\. Scourge is technically twenty-one due to his mutation, and Sonic is only nineteen.

 **Hey, here's a crazy question. What do you think the _anti-Shadow_ would be like?**


	15. Why He Wants You

**Warning, lemon.**

 **15 - Why He Wants You**

* * *

"You're, asking me how long Scourge has been watching you?"

"Yes!" Sonic exclaimed with closed fists. He was making an adamant expression, wanting an answer immediately. It is true that Zonic doesn't know what happened on Mobius prime, but he's one of the only people Sonic knew of who knew Scourge best. Zonic wasn't close to Scourge or anything, but he definitely understood his character. This is the guy who arrested him more than once, who's led armies of military forces into battle. He's performed interrogations, cooperated in trials, this guy was a triple threat when it came to criminals. He had to know _something_ about him. "I mean, you probably don't know for sure if he was watching me at all, but still," Sonic huffed. "The way he's planned things out, the way he set up fake attacks and riots,"

His twin narrowed his eyes carefully, trying to understand what Sonic was trying to ask. Shadow, was also a bit put off by the hero's sudden implications. Zonic blinked once before calling his name. "Sonic prime..?"

"He's smarter than what people give him credit for, that much is obvious, right? So with all this planning, he had to have been watching me to set this all up perfectly. S-So do you think," He stuttered. "Do you think this bastard's been stalking me the whole time?" He asked with a louder, shaky voice. He needed to know desperately. Because the answer to that would determine just how dangerous his enemy was. He's talked about all along how intimidating and toxic Scourge was to Shadow, but did he even realize himself just how insane he was? During those moments when he was practically bragging about how smart he was compared to Eggman, did he realize the depth of their situation?

This, was why Sonic was internally a nervous wreck. He's been that way ever since he was a child. Always looking over his shoulder, watching out for new enemies to pounce, judging on when or how they might assault him next. This was what masterminds did. This was their job, to make people fear their eventual return. To fall victim to their despair, and become paranoid. But if you're not paranoid, then you can't expect the attack coming next. He always masked it with his overconfidence and carelessness but, he couldn't this time.

"..Sonic prime, restrain yourself. You are shaking the chair." Zonic held up a hand with an anxious, daunting look on his face. He was holding tightly onto his nightstick, as if he was ready to use it. Zespio and Zector, the two soldiers behind the hedgehogs were already standing right behind them with unreadable expressions. They were all allies, but if their commander needed them to act, they wouldn't hesitate in striking. "Your fur, it is turning black. If you do not calm yourself, I will be forced to retrain you myself." He warned with a low, reluctant tone. He glanced at Shadow, who was sitting next to the now trembling Sonic. It was true, he was turning into Dark right before them. He looked angry and afraid, the epitome of this form. Shadow reached over and gripped Sonic's hand tightly with his own.

"Faker, get a hold of yourself, now isn't the time." Shadow whispered harshly. "The commander will be forced to take you down, and none of us want that, do we?" He then slipped his hand behind Sonic's back, leaning himself a little closer towards him. His whispers became less forceful, and more soothing. "Everything is fine. We're fine. Just explain everything to him, I will help you. Then, we'll get an explanation." He murmured as he gently rubbed his hand up and down his arm.

Sonic was starting to feel himself calm down almost instantly. Shadow's words were strong with meaning, and comfort. He always knew just what to say. Sonic took in a deep breath, and exhaled heavily as he lightly leaned against the ultimate life form. "...Yeah, I'm sorry. You're right." He said softly, his default fur color returning quickly. "I dunno why I got so worked up like that. That was faster than last time." He looked up at Zonic and smiled apologetically. "Sorry for getting like that, Z. I got ya all confused. I'll explain everything from the beginning, okay?"

"That is fine, Sonic prime, but," Zonic frowned. "I know more than you think. Your forms, including the one you almost turned into just now. I'll talk more about that later, as there are obviously a few things you yourself do not understand."

To this, Sonic furrowed his brows. Stuff that even he didn't know about? How would Zonic know more than him about his own super forms?

"As for Scourge, I will deduce an answer after you've told me about Mobius prime." He nodded over to his twin, gesturing for him to do the talking now. "Go on."

Sonic nodded back, swallowing hard at his own anxiety. He really needed to calm down. Maybe this wasn't just him. Maybe it really was Dark's influence. All Sonic's life, he's never shown his nervousness or his doubt. He always kept it to himself, and never let it come out. Nor did he let it overcome him. He never made outbursts or caused a scene like this before. He always knew how to handle burdens, not fall victim to delusions. Whenever he got like that, to the point where he actually turned into someone else, he knew for sure that wasn't him. Dark, is not him at all. That was another side, a side he was ashamed of.

Maybe that was Scourge's plan too, to turn Sonic into a paranoiac so that people would doubt him more. Well, he wouldn't let that asshole win. Not again. He'd never fall victim to his mind games, ever again!

 _Hey..._

 _..._

 _Hey!_ _I'm talkin' to you!_

 _..._

 _You've been controlling me ever since I got back home. You're making me act like someone I'm not, this isn't me!_

 _..._

 _Back off. I don't know if **he's** tellin' you to mess with me like this or not, but I don't care! Leave me alone, and quit screwing with me! I've never let you control me before, and I won't let you do it now! I'm tired of being everyone's puppet. So back off, and let me live._

 _..._

 _...Still got nothing to say? Fine. Don't come back._

 _..._

So with another heavy exhale, he smiled, shocking everyone in the room. That look, the face of a winner. The expression of someone who wasn't afraid of anything, who was confident in himself. Who looked as if anything could roll right off of his back, and not even worry about it. Ha, it was so easy. Why didn't he do this sooner? Just chill, let go. Take things as they come, and don't worry about 'em. Show 'em all that nothing can bother you. After all, he was a hero. Heroes didn't worry, that's what civilians do. No, he was better than that, and they all knew it.

He knew it.

He crossed his arms over his chest and began to speak. "Again, sorry 'bout that. The Sonic you talked to before wasn't me. That was someone else."

Shadow's eyes widened, lighting up with hope. The insecurities, the doubts and worries, did he let it all go? Did he finally clear his mind and put himself at ease?

"Just had to tell myself to chill out for a sec, ya know? It ain't me to get all roused up. Anyway, back to business," He cleared his throat and continued. "I'll start from the beginning. Shads," He looked over at the dark hedgehog with a charming grin. To this, Zonic smiled a little. That was the Sonic he knew. He was proud that his twin finally fought back his negative emotions. Sonic masked it well, but Zonic knew him better than that. Ever since he came here, he knew he was hiding something, and he could sense that it was eating away at him. But now, he was serene. He was more than happy for him. "Mind helpin' me out?"

Growing a smirk himself, Shadow nodded. "Of course."

* * *

After maybe ten minutes of recounting everything that's happened in Mobius and anti-Mobius so far, Zonic and both of his soldiers were left dumbfounded.

"...So, that's everything." Sonic concluded. Seeing their faces, he could almost laugh, but they all knew this was no humorous manner. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Yeah, it's bad."

Zonic was still left speechless, looking down with wide eyes and not knowing what to say. This was horrible. No wonder Sonic was a nervous wreck. Not just because of Dark's influence, but because that maniac has the advantage of one of his forms. The red one, the one that was the absolute worst of them all. This was severely awful, God awfully bad. With that kind of power, he could...He could..!

"Z? You still there, buddy?" Sonic asked quietly. He could see from his expression alone, that this was more than just 'bad'. He couldn't blame him.

"My apologies," He quickly replied back. "Let me get this straight," He looked over at his desk and started to grab some of his files. He straightened some of them out, while one of his men, Zector, handed him a black pen. The commander thanked him and began jotting things down. "Anti-Sonic kidnapped you on your home island, _Christmas Island_ to be exact," He snapped his fingers twice with his free hand, letting one of his officers know that he needed something else. Zespio suddenly rushed over with a thick binder. He laid it down beside the commander and stepped back respectfully. "His lover drugged you and took you to their base, the castle. There, you fought off his gang, but Scourge returned and caught you again. He then tortured you, and used his own ability received from the shrines of his world to steal one of your forms. The scarlet one. He then used it to force out your other form, the dark one, and had you under his control."

Sonic was nodding, he was correct so far.

"Then some time later, he took you back to Mobius prime to confront your friends. He had you hidden, while he paraded himself around as you. That is, until Tails prime revealed that he was an imposter. Then there was a big brawl, ending up with him escaping and you reverting from your Dark form. After that, you traveled to anti-Moebius and found a few anti counterparts, before being informed about Scourge's fake assault by the anti-Tails and came here for assistance. Is that everything?" The commander summed up casually, and almost tiresomely. He probably wasn't happy with what he was hearing.

Shadow nodded his head this time. "That's everything."

"Alright," Zonic stood up from off of his desk and scratched behind his head while looking down at his reports. This was a lot, he needed to talk to the warden about this. "I'll definitely use this new information to form a better plan. I'll have to have a meeting with the warden, and a few other high ranking officers. As for your previous question Sonic prime," Zonic turned around and leaned his back and his hands against his desk. "We've realized that Scourge does indeed have high intellect. We run a test on our inmates from time to time to see how they progress mentally and physically. Scourge is one of the most threatening inmates we've ever had. He isn't just powerful, he's cunning. He is indeed a planner who analyzes things thoroughly, and he knows how to manipulate people. The power of his charisma," He sighed. "It's powerful. People with that kind of power, are often leaders of despicable individuals. People like that have the power to command anyone at will, simply because people just flock to them like gnats on a porch light."

"With that immature personality of his?" Shadow raised a brow.

Zonic nodded once slowly. "Yes. It doesn't matter how you act, Shadow prime. If your personality is attractive enough, or if you say the right words to the right people in the right way, you can convince anyone about anything you desire. And that is a true manipulator, the talent of a cult leader." He glanced at Sonic. "Let's not forget, Scourge didn't need this power of yours to form a gang. He's done it before, plenty of times with his own social skills. The power he stole from you only made it a little bit easier for him to trick people. He doesn't need it to command slaves. That's how he escaped from here, _three_ times." He sadly closed his eyes, knowing this isn't what they want to hear. But, it also seemed like there was something Zonic wasn't telling them, yet wanted to. "While I do not know for sure, it's more than likely that he did watch you for some time. Maybe not in person, but using the eyes and ears of his followers."

Sonic shuddered and looked away. That's so damn creepy, knowing that someone had watched you for a year, waiting to get the drop on you. Wait a minute, why didn't Zonic tell him that he escaped? "Z, why didn't you tell me he escaped? I could have helped you get him back."

"Absolutely not." He instantly disregarded the idea. "I knew you'd want to go after him, and I didn't want that to happen. You barely defeated him the last time, and he was at full strength the minute he busted out the second time. You would have been slaughtered, even with our help. At the time, none of us were nearly as strong as we are now, you wouldn't have stood a chance to apprehend him."

Sonic tried to argue against that. "Zonic-"

" _No_ , Sonic prime. You know that just as well as I do." He looked to the side with a detached expression. "Besides, we wanted nothing to do with that demon anymore. After he escaped, he fell off the map. We had no idea where he was, and I couldn't find him in his own world from my monitors. It was like he disappeared. I have suspicions why, but nothing solid. We figured letting him go elsewhere and doing whatever he wanted was the best for our own home. We thought it was best just to deal with him later should he stir up trouble again." He looked over at Sonic, who seemed irritated from Zonic's reasoning. He had a feeling his twin wouldn't like that, but it was for his own good. "He wasn't your responsibility." He pushed himself away from the desk and began walking over to his friend. He knelt down to his chair and grasped his gloved hand tightly with his own bare one.

"..." Sonic just glared down at him. If he had let Sonic interfere, they may have had the chance to get him, and none of this mess would have happened. Maybe it was a shot in the dark, but they could have had the chance to prevent this!

"He may be your anti, but that doesn't matter. He wasn't your problem, he was ours. And now, you're both my responsibility. You always have been, and I wanted to protect you." He gave a little squeeze to his hand tenderly, having a notable fondness in his voice. "I know I'm not there for you much, but I am now. And you may not ever realize it, but I've interfered with your previous battles multiple times, just to ensure your safety. I don't want you to get hurt, don't you understand that?"

"You don't have to treat me like a kid. Hell, we're the same age, Z!"

"And that may be true, but I don't care. Like I said, whether you like it or not, you're both my problems. And it's my goal to make sure he's detained, and that you and your world are safe." He let go of Sonic's hand and stood up straight. The blue Mobian hedgehog just crossed his arms and laid back against the seat of his chair. Shadow, meanwhile, was surprised by the commander's heavy concerns. He really cared for Sonic, probably just as much as Tails or the echidna. He didn't just see Sonic as a friend, he saw him as a brother. In this case, a little brother that he needed to protect.

Sonic just shrugged. "Alright, fine, you win." He dropped it, much to Zonic's relief. He didn't like arguing with him, and maybe he didn't care about what he had to say, but at least he accepted it.

The ebony hedgehog held up a hand to get Zonic's attention. "Excuse me for interrupting," He said as he glanced at Sonic's face. He seemed, okay. Like he wasn't mad or upset at all anymore. Hm, that was a good thing. "But speaking of our world," He lightly nudged Sonic to grab his attention as well. "I haven't heard a thing from Rouge the entire time we were gone. It's been days now."

"Trust me, I'm just as concerned about your friends as you are, Shadow prime. I wish I could get my monitors working, I really do, but they're still being repaired, and you need to stay so we can try and figure out something together." He put a hand on his chest where his heart was to show his upmost sincerity. "I promise you, once we get them back online, we will contact you immediately."

The two hedgehogs looked behind them to see the purple chameleon and the crocodile bow their hands with their hands on their hearts as well. They meant what they said.

"Once I've had a meeting with the warden to report this in, we will talk again to devise a strategy with this new information in mind. And I'll explain about your forms." He turned his back to them and leaned over his desk, slightly bending his body to reach one of the drawers. He pushed away some of the items on his desk, including that weird pink box with a ribbon on it. Was that a box of cake...? Well, that wasn't what Shadow was paying attention to. His backside was in plain sight, his tail swishing as he made a few grunts to look for something inside. The ultimate life form was having a field day staring at his ass. Both his soldiers and Sonic just glowered at Shadow. This was getting a bit ridiculous. But he couldn't help it. That part of his body was so ample and- "Ah, there it is." He settled down and turned back around with something in his hand.

Sonic blinked from this, peering at the object in his hand curiously. "What's that..?"

Zonic uncovered the object, holding it in between his fingers. He swung it around as it made a few metallic clattering sounds. No, more like chimes and rings. He tossed them over to Shadow, who woke up out of his daze and barely caught them. Both he and Sonic looked down at them, and realized that they were keys. Keys? Why keys? "You said you needed my help, and I need you here so we can get a plan ready. There's a home nearby HQ that I'm renting. Use it while you stay here."

"Are you serious?" His twin exclaimed. "Z, this is too much."

Shadow began to protest as well. "Faker's right, that's unnecessary."

"I refuse to allow my guests to stay at some hotel. And while they're all very nice," Zonic slyly added. "I want you to be comfortable here, and I want you close to HQ so I know where you are. It's almost directly around the corner from the perimeter of the base. You'll know it's mine, there are two officers patrolling it. It has a nice view, you'll be able to look out the window and see our air force take off." He held up his hand and motioned for both of his soldiers to follow him out the room. As he walked out, he said one last thing. "There's a festival coming to town in a couple days, celebrating Eggman Nega's defeat. I expect to see you both attending. Hopefully it'll get your mind off of things, even for a little while." With that, the lieutenant general left their presence.

The two hedgehogs looked up at each other as they stood up from their seats. They were gonna have a house together, by themselves. Living, together. Sure it would be a short time but, this was a big step. They only just got together, and they were sure things would end up happening from built up tension. They didn't have a choice though, this is what Zonic wanted and they needed to be close just in case something happened.

Sonic felt himself blushing already.

* * *

Maybe two seconds after Zonic left the room, Shadow started groping Sonic's behind. The hero was completely caught off guard by this, demanding why Shadow was touching him like this all of a sudden. The ultimate life form put the keys in his quills and grabbed Sonic by his shoulders. He looked him dead in the eyes and said three simple words. _"I need you."_ That alone made Sonic's blue face turn red. He was just so baffled by his forwardness, what did he want so bad? That's what he wondered, until he started whispering in his ear how happy he was that he had a place to keep Sonic all to himself. That's when he reached a hand down and groped him again, making his partner moan reluctantly. He didn't want to do this now, they were still in Zonic's office!

So, Shadow accommodated that by pulling him out of his office and into a bathroom that was just down the hall. It was clean, spotless, actually. Smelled oddly nice for a public bathroom. Shadow made sure he locked it, and for safe keeping, he used his chaos ability to forge a perimeter around the door so that it couldn't be opened from the outside. He learned how to do that recently. He slammed Sonic against the wall and attacked his mouth with rough kisses. Sonic was still unbelievably confused as to what the hell was happening. So with a growl, he shoved the dark hedgehog off of him to take a breather.

Panting, he looked up at Shadow with a little intimidation. He came at him like a ravenous dog. "What the hell's gotten into you?!" He yelled breathlessly.

"Forgive me faker," His partner said lowly. "But I'm been struggling with this throbbing tension all day." He looked below in between his legs, to which the hero self consciously closed them with a squeak. This was so outrageous, Shadow never acted like this before! "If I don't get what I want," He took a few steps forward slowly. "If I don't do something to you..." His voice sounded so vicious, he was surprised that he was aroused at all and not just angry.

"H-Hey, hey! HEY! _Back!_ Get back!" Sonic warned while backing himself against the white wall even more. "Shadow, I'm warning you, I will kick the shit outta you!" He could take a wild guess as to why Shadow was aroused. He was staring at Zonic all day, staring at his ass and his legs and what not. They look exactly alike, so he probably wanted to plow Sonic right into the floor. While he was a little offended he was only like this because of his twin, he couldn't really blame him. That Zhadow guy Zonic talked about was cute. After all, he was the ultimate life form's twin. If he had the chance to get both him and Shadow in a bed at the same time for one night, he wouldn't object to it. He'd do the same so, he couldn't be too mad at him. "Listen-YO! _Chill..!_ " He cried as his partner edged closer. "Listen to me for a sec!" He gulped nervously. "I'll let you do what you want, but it has to be quick. Just you know, don't cash out my V-card."

Shadow made a blank expression. "V...Card?"

Sonic chuckled. "My virginity. I ain't ready, we already had that talk. So," He steadily got off the wall and cautiously moved over to Shadow. "I kinda got an idea." He said as he took off his gloves and threw them somewhere on the floor. He then moved to clip off Shadow's inhibitor rings and pull off his gloves as well. He gazed into his red eyes, and moved his right hand towards his nether regions. Shadow flinched and grunted when he felt the palm of Sonic's hand rub against him. He was smiling gently at him as he moved his hand, stroking him softly. It was teasing, actually.

Shadow glanced down below before looking away. Chaos, if he looked too long he might finish too quickly. "Are you going to," He inhaled sharply with a moan. "Get on your knees?"

"And suck you off? Not what I had in mind." He said as he took his hand away from Shadow's member and held it up to his mouth. He sucked on his own fingers, making purely immoral, lewd expressions at him. After taking a few more licks on his digits, he took his fingers out of his mouth and reached back down to the elder's length. He placed his other hand on Shadow's shoulder, pulling him a little closer. He closed his eyes and kissed him lightly, giving a more mellow kiss than Shadow's previously aggressive ones. "Mmn,"

Shadow placed his hands where they always go, on his hips. Feeling and caressing him, touching his body. He was stiff, very stiff. The dark one gasped when he felt a tug on his shaft. Sonic broke the kiss with a smirk on his face.

"I may be younger than you," He whispered to him. "And I know Rouge was probably better at this than me,"

 _Rouge?_ Shadow thought. When did he figure that out? He couldn't even respond to that, because Sonic was moving his hand faster. "Ngh..!"

"Come on. You and her living together? The way she looks at you? There was tension every time you guys were near each other. No wonder Knuckles hates ya." He kissed Shadow again shortly before moving to his neck and placing kisses and licks there. "Nm," He made sure to put a mark here and there. He'd be in control this time. "Am I right?" He murmured sensually. "Huh?" He squeezed his hand against Shadow, making the other arch his back.

"Shit...!" He cursed.

"Right? That's how you had me last night." He nipped his teeth against him. "You told me you had experience, and I knew it had to be her. So I was a little jealous." He let go of Shadow again and took his hand from in between his legs. He looked at the clear substance at his hand and stared directly at Shadow as he slid his tongue on his palm. "Then I see you make goo-goo eyes at Z aaaalll day..." He trailed off with lowered eyes. Shadow panted, he was beginning to sweat. What just happened? Didn't he have him pinned against the wall not too long ago? Isn't this the same guy he had in bed last night begging him for more? "I got more jealous." He grabbed Shadow's wrist with his clean hand, the one that held his hips. He lowered it until he touched his arse. "I may be young, maybe I'm not as experienced as you are." He licked his lips and pressed them against the other's. "But I know what makes you feel good." He bit his lip playfully.

This was what, the fourth time he made the ultimate life form speechless? Maybe it was more times than that. He took control so easily, so fast. He had this strong aura of sex appeal, and he didn't feel this before. It wasn't nearly this strong when they were together last night. His wavelengths were immeasurable, and they felt so good.

Sonic reached his hand below and grasped Shadow's member one last time, before letting it slide in between his thighs. The hero was hard as well, and he was pressed against his lower abdomen. "Do it." Sonic murmured. Shadow didn't waste anymore time. He thrusted his hips against him, and the sensation nearly made him pass out. So this was what he had in mind. Nothing but more friction, with a touch of tightness from his inner thighs. He liked that idea.

He thrusted again, squeezing his fingers in Sonic's body. It hurt, but that's how intense the feeling was. He had to hold onto him tightly, once again imagining that he was inside of him. How much he wanted to enter him, how much he wanted to destroy him and ravage him. They nuzzled against each other's faces before sharing anther long kiss. "I need you," Shadow said in between kisses. "I want to be inside you.." He growled with another thrust. He could feel himself slipping, he was going to spray himself all over.

"..." Sonic didn't say a word, he just watched as Shadow thrusted himself in and out between his legs. Oh he _wanted_ Shadow inside of him. Make no mistake, it was taking everything he had not to just shove it in himself. He could pick him up and take him right on one of the toilet seats. But, now wasn't the time to make love, and this wasn't a good place to do that. He wanted to lose his virginity in a bed, thank you very much. This was mostly just to get Shadow's rocks off, but he wanted some too. He never thought he'd be willing to let a guy do something like this to him, but trying new things was fun.

They stopped kissing, and Shadow just laid his head against Sonic's shoulder. It was tight, warm, wet...Everything he imagined. He kissed his shoulder blade and made a few more kisses on his arm. He then moved to his chest and kissed his peach torso. He licked against his collar bone, making Sonic flinch and close his eyes. He was almost there, he felt it rising inside of him again.

With a drawn out groan, Shadow gripped his fingers in Sonic's cheeks and released. Some white substance splashed against his bottom, and a little on his legs. He pulled himself away from the hero while continuing to rub himself. The blue hedgehog was a little surprised that it wasn't enough. Was he not finished? He noticed Shadow was holding onto his shoulder this time, while using his other hand to pleasure himself further. Then, he moaned and more white flew onto his stomach. "Fuck..." He panted.

Woah, that was a lot.

He looked down at Sonic's arousal, and got down on his knees. He grabbed his legs and pulled him closer. The hero was about to say something, until he felt Shadow's wet lips wrap onto his length. "A-Ah...!" He squeezed his eyes closed. "S-Shadow wai- _Ah!_ " His legs trembled. He was sucking onto him way too hard. But it felt so damn good, he didn't want him to stop. He just wanted a heads up first, that's all. His eyes almost rolled back, his tongue was all over the place down there. He wasn't sure if Shadow did this before, but if it was his first time, he was doing a damn good job. "Ahh.." His moans were sounding more airy than loud.

Shadow raised his demonic looking eyes up to his blue lover, focusing his attention on his reactions and the faces he was making. His entire body was shuddering, his back arching every so often. He even looked up at the ceiling, probably asking the Gods why this felt so amazing. Shadow reached up his hand and rubbed it up against his abdomen. He grazed his fingertips on his chest, feeling for his nipples. Once he felt the tip of one on his thumb, he started to squeeze. Sonic gasped almost painfully, clenching his eyes shut.

"..! A-Ah..Mmn!"

The dark one took his lips off of his member to take a breather, licking his lips as he did so. "Hnm, any other ideas you have in mind?" He asked as he continued to pump him with one hand, and tweaking the nub on his chest with the other.

"Ha," Sonic managed to force out a laugh through pants. He opened his eyes and looked below to see his lover kissing his inner thighs. He was already wet. They had a hell of a mess to clean up before they left. "Honestly, I want you to fuck me right here."

His choice of words made the ultimate life form gape at him.

"But," The hero bit his thumb and his lip from the pleasure of being touched and rubbed. Shadow still didn't stop. "M-Mmm, not now. Not- _Ooh.._ " He hissed. "Damn...Just keep going, I'm almost there..."

"Is that so?" Shadow stuck his tongue out and slithered it against the head. He then placed it back in his throat, going up and down. Sonic reached his hand out and held a tight grip on the fur of Shadow's head. He began to move his hips back and forth, feeling himself move in and out of Shadow's mouth. He moved a little quicker, his pelvis touching his lips. The red striped hedgehog moved his hand from his torso, and lowered to touch him from behind again. Sonic loved it, and his movements were becoming more erratic.

Watching Shadow get off from thrusting himself between his legs already had him hard before. He was basically waiting to burst from that. But now he sucking him off, and he couldn't hold on for long. That's exactly what the elder wanted. He wanted to see his face when he released again. It was the best thing he had ever seen, and he needed to watch it happen one more time. His noises, his mewls and groans. His whining, his body shaking and moving from the satisfaction. Frankly, Shadow thought he was doing some of it on purpose, just to get him riled up. The way he moaned, sucking on his own fingers like a victim of mating season.

"Shadow," He breathed. "It feels so good..." He could barely keep moving his lips to speak. Shadow took his hand from his member and reached below himself. He continued to suck, but he needed to touch himself again. The way Sonic was talking had him hot. He was stiff even after his release from earlier, he had enough energy to do it again. Sonic would help him get there, all he needed to do was keep on talking. "I..I-I can't.." He could barely utter any more syllables. Shadow pumped himself faster, closing his eyes as he concentrated on pleasuring the both of them simultaneously. "A little more..." He was about to do it, he couldn't take it anymore. "Ahh...Nm.. _Ahhh!_ "

With one last push of his hips, he released. The familiar ivory substance that graced their bodies before now filled up in Shadow's mouth. The black and red striped hedgehog grunted before taking him out of his mouth, releasing himself onto the glossy floors below them. Both out of breath, they stumbled back against one of the bathroom stalls, and fell on their butts. They laid their heads back against the stalls, and let the waves of chaotic pleasure rise and fall from their bodies. Shadow wiped the white from his mouth and looked down at the soiled floor.

They made a horrible mess. They had to clean up before they left. Maybe one of them could leave the bathroom real quick and get some cleaning supplies some where. As they sat next to each other trying to catch their breath, they looked over to each other and smiled or grinned. Welp, that was technically public sex. They may not have did the deed, but that was close enough, right?

They leaned close to each other, and kissed one last time.

They stayed like that for a while, with Sonic laying his head next to his lover's. He let his hand rest on his leg, and Shadow let his own rest on top of Sonic's. The blue hedgehog couldn't stop smiling. "I love you." He said quietly. Those words froze Shadow in his tracks. With an obvious shocked expression, he turned to the hero questionably. Sonic just shrugged and rubbed his palm on Shadow's leg. "I know you still probably don't wanna say it yet, but I wanted to." He looked away, staring directly at the wall. "Someone once broke up with me because of that. I said it way too early and I meant it too seriously, so I scared her off." He closed his sprawled legs and sighed blissfully. "I hope that didn't offend you. But, it just felt right to say it for some reason. And I did mean it."

Shadow didn't feel that he could say it back, but he did want to say _something_. He squeezed his fingers on Sonic's peach hand and looked away as well. "..You may be the most difficult creature I've ever met, but you're still perfect."

Sonic snickered. "Guess that's your way of sayin' it back, without actually sayin' it." He giggled louder. "You're cute, Shads."

Secretly, Shadow smirked at that.

 _I'll say it. I will. It's only a matter of time._

* * *

The medics in the medical ward were waiting for him. They had their heads bowed before he even walked towards them. His two soldiers, Zespio and Zector were standing by the doctors, bowing by the time Zonic stepped one foot close to the entrance. They all stood up straight and saluted all at once. Some wore doctor masks, some wore gloves, some held clip boards. They all wore the appropriate sanitary garbs. Everything seemed in order here.

Zonic saluted back, before walking forward. The doctors however, didn't move. To this, the blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes precariously. Why were they not letting him pass? Why were they disobeying him? One of the doctors who was a duck, pulled down his mask from his beak and humbly looked down. He didn't dare look in his eyes. "I am sorry sir. We did indeed identify the man to be Lieutenant General Zhadow. We tried healing him of any external wounds but, we didn't find any. Probably an effect of the anti-Sonic's strange power. We also ran a few tests-"

"Get to the point, doctor." He commanded curtly.

"Of course." The fowl cleared his throat. "We, couldn't wake him up, sir."

"Probably just needs a few days of rest." Zonic replied nonchalantly, before moving to try and go past them. But they wouldn't budge. "What is this?" He growled. His soldiers walked to his side and gestured for him to stop and listen to the doctors. They shook their heads, letting him know he needed to hear this. The doctor hesitated in speaking, but gained the confidence to keep going.

"N-No, sir." He tried again in a more grounded voice. "He won't be waking up any time soon."

Zonic felt his stomach drop. He suddenly couldn't feel his legs. His nerves weren't working, his brain couldn't comprehend that. "...What?"

"I am afraid officer Zhadow, is in a coma. We don't know when or if he'll ever wake up." The duck brought his head down, honorably. He knew the news was devastating, he didn't have the right to look at his commander in the eyes right now. "I am sorry. But we need to run a few more tests to-Commander!" He cried as Zonic shoved the medic out of the way. He pushed the others just as harshly, knocking them down on the floor with startled gasps and grunts. His soldiers tried to grab him to pull him back, but he slipped away. "Sir, please wait-!"

Zonic moved his quaking feet and sprinted as fast as he could to his partner's room. He was told not too long ago that he was in the room down the hall, room 304, if he remembered correctly. He pushed past nearby nurses, using every ounce of his energy to get to that room. For some reason, it felt like it was getting farther and farther, the hallway was getting longer. He couldn't reach him, he couldn't get to him. _Not Zhadow, not Zhadow,_ he thought. Not him, never him! Nothing could ever happen to him. Nothing could ever put him in a state like a coma! He was too strong, he was unstoppable. He refused to believe that!

He didn't even realize he fell to his knees, out of breath. He held up a hand to his head, it was starting to hurt. So was his chest. It was throbbing, like he was about to have a heart attack. He swallowed hard, and put his hands on the floor to push him back up on his feet. He put a shaky hand on the door, and pushed it open.

After taking one step inside, he felt like his heart stop beating.

No, it wasn't beating, it was crumbling. He fell back to his knees, unable to find the strength to stand. All he could do was stare hopelessly as his partner, his lover, laid in the bed. His eyes were closed. His body wasn't moving. He barely saw his chest move up and down. He was holding on by a thread. This was a horribly accurate imitation of a dead body. Or a body with no soul. He couldn't even feel his presence. He wouldn't have known a body was here unless he looked. It was as if he was nonexistent, that he wasn't here in this world anymore.

He was dead, but he wasn't. A fine example of someone buried in the depths of a coma.

He didn't know he was crying until his vision turned blurry.

Everything was quiet, except for the heart monitor that echoed a beep. The clean sheets of the bed covered him up all the way from his neck. They might as well had put him in a morgue.

He heard foot steps from behind. The doctors and nurses, including his soldiers all saw their commander in utter despair. Zector knelt down and put his large hand on Zonic's shoulder with a firm hold, trying to give him comfort. Zespio did the same, looking at his boss's empty face. The duck sorrowfully looked away. He couldn't even say sorry. Being sorry wouldn't help a thing. "...When Sonic prime's associate brought him here, he was already unconscious. So, we ended up concluding that he was in that state for a long time. More than a week, perhaps. His body was thinning, and he wouldn't open his eyes. We flashed a light in his eyes and, no reaction. His brain wouldn't make his body react to pain, and his breathing is badly irregular. My commander," He addressed with as much respect as he could muster. "He's..." He couldn't even finish.

Zonic didn't say anything back. He felt dead. As dead as his love. Just, dead.

Just...Dead...

* * *

 **END - 15**

 **Sorrow at the end.**

 **Sorry, no differences here. Don't forget to review.**


	16. Let's Party

**16 - Let's Party**

* * *

The key activated the tumbler, and unlocked the door. Shadow turned the silver door knob to open the door, and placed the keys in his quills. This was apparently the home Zonic was talking about. To think he'd offer them a home like this. It looked like just an apartment, but the block the apartment resided in seemed different than the others. It was more, secluded. This block seemed to only belong to those who worked for the No Zone military. Only officers lived here, and no one was seen in this area. It appears that it wasn't for the public, just the cops. It was an entire street of apartments, exclusively for them. That was pretty neat. There were two guards like Zonic mentioned, who stopped them until they showed them the keys he gave them. The keys had his identification number printed on it, and they recognized it. They were still skeptical until they saw Sonic's face. They remembered his heroism in the war with Eggman Nega, and bowed before letting him and Shadow through.

When they walked inside, they saw that the home was pretty snazzy. It was decent enough, had a nice space. There was a small kitchen, and a bedroom that only had one bed. Hm, looks like they'd have to share again. There was a dresser, a closet, all the necessities. There was a living space too, which seemed comfy. There was a TV, a couple windows...It was nice. Everything was nice and clean, neat. A little too clean, actually. This entire apartment seemed, empty. Like there should have been more in here. If Zonic lived here, shouldn't there be more things? After a while of sight seeing, the two hedgehogs looks around to search for belongings. There was nothing in the dresser or the closet. No clothes, nothing. Thankfully, there was food in the fridge with some cooking utensils and cups or plates. But other than that, there was nothing. The sink didn't even have any dishes in it.

Shadow crouched down and even inspected the beige colored carpet. There were faint faded marks of furniture, like a larger couch once sat here. Sonic had smelled a very far off scent in the closet from the bedroom, that Zonic was here before. Not too long ago, maybe a few days ago. Zonic always smelled like cappuccino or sweets, not to mention he had that 'new clothes' smell from the new military uniforms. Something didn't feel right though. Wasn't this his home? Why would he give that up to them? Where would he stay? Unless, this was just a temporary home, and he actually had a house in town. Hmm...

Oh well. Who cared about that? They had an apartment to themselves! A nice one at that. Sonic and Shadow eventually reunited in the living space and sat on the love seat. They sat very close, and leaned close to kiss each other. It was almost routine at this point. Sonic wrapped his arms around Shadow's neck and pulled him closer, while Shadow embraced his lower body. They closed their eyes as they made out, making small moans and giggles here and there. After ten seconds or so, they broke the kiss for air. Sonic lowered his eyes suggestively with a smile, while Shadow did the same. He asked the ebony hedgehog something in a hushed voice.

"What do you think we should do until Z calls us in?"

"Maybe we should just stay in. That way I can ravish you however I please."

"Geez, don't talk like that Shads, you're making me blush."

"I could make you do a lot more than that, faker." Shadow whispered huskily before placing kisses on Sonic's shoulder. The hero chuckled and gently pulled Shadow away to make him cease his teases.

"Come on, cut it out. We can't do that in Z's crib. Besides, we already did stuff in the bathroom at HQ. You ain't get enough?"

Shadow placed a small kiss on his cheek. "I can never have enough of you, Sonic." After he whispered that, he dived his head down to Sonic's abdomen, replaying the scene in the bathroom. The hero almost rolled his eyes, this guy just couldn't get a break. Not that he was complaining or anything, he loved when Shadow couldn't keep his hands to himself. He was quick to touch him and caress him like usual, in every place he loved to be touched. Sonic closed his eyes and moaned in bliss while leaning his head back. The small pleasure he was getting from Shadow's nips and kisses, it was practically relaxing. Soon, he got off the love seat and knelt down to the floor in between Sonic's legs. He was still strict on kisses, being more of an insufferable tease.

"Ahh...Shadow.."

He was still worried about his friends, and he was still concerned about how things were going in Mobius. He was still worried about what Scourge had planned next, but right now, he didn't care.

He only cared about one thing, and that was Shadow.

* * *

Ah, let's see...His to-do list was pretty long, but there were a lot of check marks. Hm, perhaps he should go down the list of what he's already done. Ten wireless thirty-six inch sub woofer speakers, ten bundles of cables and wires, DJ stand, laptops, modified spatial stabilizers he stole from No Zone, guns, trucks, some tools, melee weapons, costumes, masks and a wireless microphone. And his 'base of operations' was already set up in his personal truck. He and his crew rehearsed their performance, and knew exactly what to do. Well, they didn't really have a choice. They were hypnotized after all. He memorized his speech, he already mapped out Station Square and pinpointed where GUN's HQ was.

 _ **Boss**_ was ready to go as well. So...Check, check, check and _check_...Yup. That was everything.

With a smile, the green hedgehog nodded to himself in satisfaction and tossed his notepad somewhere in the car. He typed a few things on his black laptop, before shutting it and sliding it off his lap. There was a set up of computers in the back of his personal truck. It was a hacker's wet dream. There were four monitors on a control panel, along with some dashboards. It was all hooked up in the car. A map was on one of the monitors, while live camera footage was on the other two. The last one had an actual browser on the screen, with a website, a music playlist and another tab with a page of emails.

All the tracks and mixes were ready, and he already sent instructions to one of his crew members. They already went over the plan, and they knew what to do during and after the performance. Yeah! Everything was set and ready! Scourge opened the car door and stepped out. He clicked his boot heels away from the vehicle and saw all of his crew members on their knees, waiting for an order. They were on the outskirts of the city. Near Tails' home, actually. They were minutes away from Station Square. The sun was starting to set, making the now orange sky purge into purple and indigo. Perfect.

His ex fiance walked in front of him, before getting down on one knee and bowing her head low. Fiona was ready for whatever Scourge had planned. The hedgehog clapped his hands together and smirked. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, rise for me." He ordered loudly. The Moebian men and women of all types, stood up in sync. Their black uniforms were great and all, but soon, they'd be shed for something even more awesome. Fiona stood in front of him with her hands behind her back. Scourge looked across the sea of his army. This was at least one thousand. Maybe, fifteen hundred people. "We're gonna have some fun with Mobius prime. We're gonna give 'em a party! And we're gonna go all out! We've all practiced, and you've all got it memorized. I want no mistakes, and I want nothin' but perfection! Now let's get in there and give 'em all a show!"

He didn't wait for his crew to scream and shout 'yeah!' back at him, because they couldn't. They were emotionless puppets, so they wouldn't respond unless he asked them to. So he turned and walked back to his car. He motioned for Fiona to join him, while the others did the same and got in their trucks. They started up their engines, and with some skids of their tires, they drove to their destination. They traveled in a perfect organized line, with one truck right behind the other. Scourge's truck was the leading car, and Fiona took over the wheel, while Scourge got in the back and returned to his laptop to start typing.

The second they got into upcoming traffic, something went wrong. The traffic lights malfunctioned and cut off. Other cars that civilians were using, suddenly stopped moving. Scourge smirked to himself. So everybody in this town drove an electric car? Dumb asses...So easy to hack. People started to yell and shout curses of bewildered nonsense. Some even got out of their cars to inspect them, confused as to why they suddenly stopped. Some noticed the train of black trucks, and with shaking fists, demanded as to why they're suddenly stranded. Scourge squinted his eyes, before taking his red glasses and placing them on his eyes. Ah, he could see the computer screen a whole lot better now. He needed to get more medicine in them, though. Damn he was a blind.

He glanced at his map on one of the monitors, and saw that Fiona was going the right way. _Good_ , he thought. They were almost right in the center. He already gave his crew instructions that if there was no room to park all of the trucks, to just drive around the area and find a spot. Even if they had to, 'move' someone else's. The trucks they had were very big, since he had a big team. They were six seaters, so they took up space. And six people in each car for at least fifteen hundred people, would equal two hundred and fifty cars in all. Shit, they might be a bit congested. Oh well, not like they cared.

With all his calculations, he didn't even realize they made it to their destination. He looked out the window and saw the square. Ahh! Yes, this was it! He didn't even get out of the car, and people were already staring and whispering about what in the world was going on. His crew drove the cars around the streets to find places to stop and park, while some stayed and parked nearby. After maybe more than ten minutes, they all rounded up and stood in front of Scourge's. The green hedgehog stepped out along with Fiona and looked around. The buildings were tall and important looking. In the distance, maybe a few miles away, was GUN's building. Oho yeah, they were in the right place alright. Scourge smirked and held up his hand. He snapped his fingers, and some of his men immediately bolted to their vehicles.

They went to their trunks, pulling out equipment they had stuffed in the car along with themselves. They had so much stuff, they had to sit with some items along the ride. A few Mobian officers rushed up to the crew and stepped up to Scourge. They grabbed his arm roughly, demanding why they were holding off traffic. "Excuse me sir, but you don't have any business here. I don't know what you're trying to set up, but if you wanted to host a town celebration, you need to take that up with the mayor-" He stopped talking. The other policemen who were yelling at other crew members to leave suddenly stopped as well.

Scourge directed his red eyed glare at them all, and snapped his fingers twice. They all suddenly fell limp and wobbly turned their backs to them. They walked away with a woozy gaze, and left the premises quietly. The citizens who walked by were puzzled. Why didn't the police do anything? The green hedgehog looked back at his team, to see them set up the large speakers and DJ set. They took out their phones while one of them, a male angler, got behind the set and began setting up. He almost forgot he had some aquatic Moebians in his crew. He looked at the other half of his entourage and snapped his fingers again. They bowed and ran to their trucks, taking out the costumes and masks, before going inside of the cars to change and put the costumes underneath. The DJ was the only one who had his costume hidden underneath before they arrived, so he was already prepared.

The speakers were set, the playlist was ready, and the composer was waiting to begin with a set of headphones. It was time. All they needed to do was blast some music and start their performance, and everyone in town would flock to them. He held up his hand and waved it over to himself to gesture for everyone except for the DJ to follow his lead. Some citizens began gathering around already. His men crowded in front of him in a strict formation, waiting for the composer to begin.

Then the music started.

The base was so loud, it shook the ground. But that's what he wanted. He wanted it so loud, that people would run out of their house to look and see what was happening. Scourge acted fast and commanded his power to ease off it's control on his minions, so that their personalities were no longer robotic and silent, but energetic and playful. Fiona then leaned close to Scourge, and handed over a black cap. Ah, this was part of his costume. He didn't mind wearing it right now. He placed his glasses in his quills and put the cap on. It had holes so his ears could get through.

He saw some smiles on the civilians' faces.

This was gonna be so much fun.

* * *

Tails grunted as he yanked his wrench out from the cockpit of his plane. It was just about done, but he couldn't get the darn thing to mend like he wanted. He already finished repairing his plane, but he was making some modifications. He needed to be ready in case Scourge showed up again. He was worried about his big bro, but he couldn't worry too much or else he'd be distracted.

It was quiet ever since Sonic and Shadow left. He didn't hear from GUN or Rouge yet, and Amy and Knuckles had nothing to report. They called occasionally to make sure the little one was alright, but nothing important to tell. Maybe Sonic fought him already? Who knew? It's been more than a few days, and hopping from zone to zone takes a bit of time. Ehh, they'd be fine. He was sure of it.

But it was pretty boring as of late. Not that he wanted anything crazy to happen but-

Was that his phone ringing? Geez, he didn't feel like going all the way upstairs from his workshop to answer it. Screw it, he'd answer it on his wrist watch. He invented it to have the exact same connection as the house phone, so he could answer almost like a cellphone if anyone called the number. The tiny microphones he installed in it were sensitive, so he wouldn't have to hold it up to his mouth to talk. A little beeping jingle resounded from his watch, letting him know there was an upcoming call. Tails pressed the button that was on the side of it to answer, before continuing to try and complete his task.

"Yeah? Hello?" The fox greeted.

 _"Ah, there you are Tails! Did you watch the news?"_ It was Amy's voice. Why was she calling at this hour? It was almost night time.

"The news?" Tails stopped everything he was doing and stood up straight. "Why? Is there something happening? Is Scourge back?" He sprinted up the stairs to the ground floor of the house and rushed to living room. He scattered for the remote, until he finally found it underneath a cushion and turned on his TV. He flipped a few channels until he reached the main news channel.

 _"Just...watch."_ She uttered quietly. The kitsune did exactly that, with wide, big eyes.

Because on the screen, was an army of people in black gathered around town. Some were on the perimeter of the square, while some were in some kind of formation. Were they-Were they throwing confetti? The music was blasting, and the people of Mobius were cheering and hopping up and down with excitement. But in that crowd, was _Scourge._ Why? Were those his people? Why, or how did he get so many? Why were they handing out gifts and confetti in the middle of Station Square? Some people were even taking props and doing tricks with them.

The reporters on the scene seemed happy about this, like this was part of some kind of celebration or act.

But he didn't understand, why were they doing this? People didn't recognize Scourge as an adversary, because they saw him posing as Sonic when he was last here. They might have even mistook him for Sonic, if things played out in Shadow's case. Suddenly, Scourge walked away from his group and disappeared. There was a new highlight in the act, which didn't require him to be apart of right now. Then, he saw some female performers walk in to the beat of the music while holding weird looking radios. Those didn't look normal, what were those? They placed them down on the perimeters of the square and got back to their formation. Wow, even Fiona was there. She'd never do something like this, would she? Then again, Scourge might have mind controlled her too.

This was bad. They were obviously planning something. They needed to get those people out of there before it was too late!

"Amy, we gotta get the commander of GUN to evacuate everyone!" Tails exclaimed.

 _"I know, I know! I already contacted Knuckles and Rouge. Thanks to people recording stuff on their cellphones nowadays, they got word of it instantly. Roueg said they were sending people over there to stop it."_

"I'm gonna get in the Tornado and fly over there. I'll meet you then."

 _"Alright. Be careful! Try not to be seen."_

"Right. Same to you." He hung up and rushed back down to his workshop. The commander didn't listen to him last time, but _damn it_ he'd listen to him now! He would make sure of that.

* * *

As the next song of the mix played, the people in black suddenly ripped off their black clothing, revealing the costumes they had underneath. They put on the masks, which also complimented their new outfits. It was like they brought Halloween early, it was still late summer! In this part of the performance, Scourge made a return. He still kept his black cap, which matched his costume. A dark, almost black striped uniform shirt with long sleeves and matching shoes. He had a pocket on it, which had some kind of detective insignia on it and a tiny silver badge on it's collar. The people watching assumed he was supposed to be some kind of high school boy detective. Fiona, by orders of Scourge, wore a white veil that covered her face, and a white corset dress that was _very_ low cut. It was accompanied with a pair of white heels, white elbow length gloves and white lace stockings with a visible garterbelt. Talk about subtle. The top didn't help with her breasts either, but that was probably the theme. She was supposed to be his bride. A very, sultry one. Her hair was even prepped up to make her look even more beautiful.

The others wore other themes. Like super heroes, mobsters, doctors or nurses, life sized plushies or mascots, secret agents, clowns and more. They were giving people novelty things like rings and little masks of their own. They even offered to dance with some of them. Everyone was so free and happy. At least, that's what it seemed like. Scourge surely was. As he stood by his truck to watch everything unfold, he smirked to himself. Then, something struck his mind. He secretly crept back in the truck and hopped in to check his monitors. Ah yes, GUN soldiers were coming.

They were already on the news, so it got to their attention fast. Helicopters were starting to hover over, and he could hear some police sirens. Not nearly as alarming as No Zone's sirens. They'd tried to shut them down, but Scourge already prepared for that. In fact, he predicted it would happen right at this moment. Those weird looking radios the girls placed down? It wasn't just to blast more music, they were the spatial stabilizers he modified. He modified them to _look_ like radios, and he also changed their purpose. Instead of sending wavelengths to interfere with gravity, he programmed them to send off wavelengths of chaos energy. That was where Boss, or _Fleetway_ , came in. Scourge's blue eyes shifted to a swirly scarlet, and almost instantly, it connected to the signal of the spatial stabilizers.

It radiated in the air, faint red aura drifting around like a mist. It rose to the skies above, and scattered all over the area. The police and GUN soldiers who came to step in, were suddenly woozy and dizzy. The helicopters stopped, and suddenly went to fly away back to base. The GUN soldiers retreated back in their vehicles and drove away. It was like they were never here. The citizens didn't even notice that they arrived or left.

He checked the cameras, and saw that GUN didn't make another move yet. Good, now it was time to bring out the big guns. Scourge's eyes turned red again, making the crew members who stood by on guard duty flinch and move. They dispersed and ran away from the square. They were gone, but nobody in the crowd noticed. They were too distracted. They went to their trucks and got more of the weird looking radios. They scattered and moved farther away from Station Square. Some even had to drive away. They planted the radios everywhere in hidden places, setting them up so that Scourge would have control over everything. They'd stand by their locations to make sure no one would tamper with them, but now it was time to move on to the next part of the plan.

At the corner of his eye out the truck's window, he saw one of his men on the roof of a house, setting up a stabilizer.

Everything was going according to plan.

* * *

"Even now you're still not listening!? Are you for real!?" Knuckles shouted. Amy scolded him and tried to make him sit back down so he wouldn't cause a scene. They were all sitting in the GUN commander's office, sitting at his table. Tails just had his hands on his head, shaking it with a scowl on his face. This dude was a moron. How the hell did he get into power? Even Rouge just glared at the old man with squinted shadowed eyes. What more proof did he need to see that something was going to happen?

Tails sighed heavily and mentally prayed for his own mental health. "Sir, I will explain again." He said with rising anger. He stood up and pointed to the large flat screen at the end of the room, that broadcasted the performance going down at the square. He pointed directly at Scourge, who was leaning against his truck. " _This_ , is the person I was talking about before. The anti-Sonic. Remember, the one who's a huge threat that could cause the very end of the world if we _don't do something!?_ " His voice increased into a yell at the very end. "Don't you think it's weird that he has at least a thousand people there? Isn't it a bit strange that your men came back _immediately_ after you dispatched them to shut them down not too long ago?"

Rouge leaned over and whispered a few things. "I met the kid before, and the fox's not lying. He's a problem. A big problem. I think it'd be wise if you listen to the youngsters for a change." She crossed her legs as she sat on his desk with pursed lips. "If you don't want us all to die, that is. They know more than you, why not take it seriously?" She spoke sarcastically. The commander didn't look pleased with anyone's tone right now, but he still wouldn't budge. He just shook his head and closed his wrinkled eyes.

"I will admit that this is a bit unorthodox, but that shouldn't call for a national emergency. They're performers who didn't legally request a city performance. So he looks like your hero, so does agent Shadow. Agent Shadow was a problem as well, and now he's not. What should I be so fearful of? Why do I need to call for an evacuation? For street dancers who give out candy and toys?" The man questioned curtly. "I am so sick of you children wasting my men and my time."

Knuckles snarled. "You-!" Before he could get anything out, he watched Tails move from the screen and slam his hands on the table. His namesakes swished behind him erratically, he was very annoyed.

"Okay. Fine then." The boy hissed, making everyone in the room flinch at his tone. "I hate to do this, I really do, but I guess we don't have a choice." He growled viciously. "Since you don't believe us, it's okay. Then we'll watch. We'll sit here, and watch together, the fatal mistake you've wrought onto the city." He pulled out a chair and sat down with his legs crossed and his hands folded. With angry and persistent eyes, he stared daggers into the human man. "You want to risk the lives of everyone in town, because you don't feel like wasting any more time or men. Basically, you just wanna give excuses not to help us, because my big brother does a better job at saving the world than _you_."

Knuckles, Amy and Rouge all had their eyes wide in shock at the preteen's tone. How heinous! To think the hero of Mobius' little brother had such a sharp tongue. Knuckles was impressed most of all. The boy grew up, and acted just like Sonic would in this instance. He took control of the situation, and didn't back down. He'd have to praise him for his words later. The human however, did not like that at all. He slowly rose from his chair and seethed.

"You little urchin." He spat. "You think you've got everything figured out? How foolish and immature." He walked around from his desk and marched right over to the fox. He reached down and grasped him by the scruff of his chest fur. He held him up a little above the chair and looked him dead in the eyes. That was the last straw for Knuckles, and he went to charge at him, but Amy was still holding him back. Rouge hopped off the desk and ran to pull the commander away, but he wouldn't budge. Tails, just continued to glare back at him with defiance. "You annoying pests have no idea what you're even talking about! I don't have time to waste on any of you! You dare walk in my office and speak to me like some kind of inferior?! I-"

"-Then why don't you make all of us, including the people in town, leave then!? You'd actually be doing your damn job!"

"Watch your tongue you spoiled brat!" The human yelled.

"Not until you've done what I asked!" Tails screamed right back.

"Wait, guys _stop!_ " Amy shouted, trying to get their attention. It worked on the commander, who whipped his head at her. Tails took this chance to get out of the hold by kicking the old man's face away. With a grunt, he dropped the fox, who landed on his feet gracefully. Knuckles walked over and asked if he was alright, Tails just nodded. The old human was then yanked back by Rouge, who looked pissed by his actions. She pulled him back to his desk and shoved him into his chair, before taking her heel and slamming it down onto his leg to keep him still. He howled in pain, and did what she wanted.

Amy gestured for everyone to look at the screen again, and watch what was happening. The group looked like they were wrapping it up. Everyone involved in the group suddenly got into their positions and took bags of confetti from the ground. This part was, odd. They were all in sync, like they were one system. Even the ones who stood by got into it and took some bags of confetti as well. Then, Tails saw it. Something was off. They all shot their hands up to throw red confetti. And soon, red mist started to spread as they were doing it. Was that chaos energy? Why was he able to see it?

Scourge slowly raised his hands, and everyone but him slowly crouched to the ground. But unlike everyone else, he wasn't looking at the crowd. He was looking directly from the screen at _them_. The news reporter's camera, he was looking at that. The very one that was broadcasting to the HQ. It was like he was staring right at them.

He knew where they were, and he knew what they were trying to do.

The citizens cheered for them all.

* * *

"Ahaha!" Scourge laughed and took a few steps away from his crew. He looked at the encouraging crowd and began pacing towards them. "You want more?" He asked loudly. His response was overjoyed screaming of fans. He chuckled to himself. Oh this was so much fun. They should do this more often. He walked away and returned to his crew. Oh they'd give them another show alright. He looked at his people, giving them certain glances. They knew exactly what to do. Then, he glanced at the DJ, he stared back and nodded.

The music picked up again with an upbeat start. The people waved their hands up and started moving themselves. More people joined from all the commotion, and soon the entire town was here. Some of his men protruded from their assigned posts and held up gold coated toy guns. They were pretty big, and they looked similar to machine guns. But they were obvious props, so not everyone was alarmed. Some people were a little fearful at the sight of them, until they pulled their triggers. They shot even more confetti and made a loud popping noise. Some shot out silly string or slides of paper that said 'BANG'. Ah, they really were toys!

Some of the black trucks they had parked were suddenly driving a little closer to the area. Then, more of his men piled out of them. The ones who set up the stabilizers had returned in their costumes to join them. Some climbed up and danced on the cars, while some got on roofs and threw down candy from there. The group moved into oddly specific positions.

Scourge leered. This was their chance once again! They continued to shoot and throw more and more wonderful red confetti. That red mist became more visible, like a red smoke bomb. Soon, it didn't just spread to the city. It reached farther, and Scourge could feel it's essence expand more and more until it reached other cities. He felt the souls and hearts of any living thing the red mist touched. The citizens thought it was all just part of the act.

And...Then...

...The Moebians who held the toy guns...

They aimed.

They aimed right at the crowd.

And _pulled the secondary triggers_ they had installed on their guns.

Those guns didn't shoot out confetti, or silly string.

...

The people no longer screamed in cheers, they screamed in horror.

They shot bullets.

At least two dozen people were now dead on the ground. Blood was pooling at their feet. People were crying, screaming, hollering in anger, yelling for help on their phones. Some of them already tried leaving, but they couldn't move for some reason. Scourge was no longer smiling, but his crew still was. He took his cap off his head and crossed his arms while still holding it. He snapped his fingers, and Fiona ran from his side to their car. She put in the necessary commands on his laptop to activate their last gimmick.

Suddenly, all the street lights were off. Electricity in every house was down. Phone reception was no longer available, and neither was internet. The DJ was no longer playing, there was no music. Soon, all of Station Square was out of power. Everything was pitch black, The people started to panic even more, whimpering and hollering for help. The darkness consumed everyone, until they were all met with red. All the street lights were back on, but were now shining red lights. It wasn't just the mist anymore. The entire city was scarlet red. Not only that, but only TV satellites and cameras were still working. They were selectively still on with electricity. How was that even possible?

Fiona handed over the wireless microphone to Scourge. With a red glint of his eyes, everyone who was crying or screaming shut their lips. They couldn't move and they couldn't speak or shout. Scourge then placed the microphone near his lips, while the DJ turned up the volume on the speakers. Members of his crew ripped cameras away from news reporters and pin pointed it on him. Some of them used their own phones to record live to everyone all over the world.

Everyone would see this.

Everyone would hear this.

The green hedgehog began speaking. "Citizens of Mobius prime," He said. He then cackled and reached his hand up to the heavens before yelling, "Are you not entertained!?" He took a few steps closer to the Mobians. "This is my gift to all of you! I already gave you my welcome the first time I came here, looking like your famous blue hero. I return to you, and I had my crew perform for you!" He glanced at one of the cameras and got a little closer. "I'm bringing Halloween a little early this year, and I'm ready to fuckin' _party!_ " He exclaimed with a tightened fist. "On a more serious note," He held up his index finger. "Let's get one thing straight. I am not, I repeat, _not_ , Sonic The Hedgehog." He shook his head. "Nope nope. Not him. If you're colorblind, I see why you'd mistake me for him. But if you're just fuckin' stupid, lemme give you a quick simple fact. I'm green, he's blue, 'nuff said. Let's not repeat the Shadow incident, alright people? Alright." He paced around some more, looking around at his crew before talking again. "You're probably wondering who I am and why I'm here. I'm Scourge, and this is my lovely family." He held up an open palm at his people who were now standing still. "We're here to do one thing. And that, is to paint this town red."

The Mobians were shaking, they wanted so badly to run away but they still couldn't.

"Now don't worry! We're not gonna be the only ones havin' fun, I'm gonna let all of you join in too!" His eyes were red, swirling. "I now ask you all to join in on this killing game. It'll be like that one movie, where any kind of crime is legal. You can dress up like us, do whatever you want. All ya gotta do is survive, that's the only rule." He chuckled, his shoulders shaking from his snickering. "We won't stay for long. Maybe a week, maybe less. In that time, survive. It'll be fun! It'll be like hide and seek, _for keeps_. So lock your doors and windows, hide your kids and your wives. Grab a weapon, board everything up. Stock up on food, water, whatever you need. You can try to kill us if you want to, but I doubt that'll happen." Without looking behind himself, he snapped his fingers at his crew. They all scurried to their cars and got in while Scourge moon walked backwards to his own. "With that, I bid you all ado! Go out there and start killin'!" He opened the truck's door and got ready to head in, until he poked his head out and said one last thing. "Oh and, don't bother getting police or military. Authority's no longer a factor here, and they'll be killed on sight. Have fun!" He grinned before shutting the door.

All the trucks that were parked here started up and began revving up. Scourge's physical control on the citizens ceased, and they were out of his hold. However, they weren't out of his control. They no longer had just fear or panic weighing their minds. They were angry, mad, psychotic with rage. Wrath, was the only thing they needed to worry about. While some of them ran out of the way of the trucks, others didn't because they were either too terrified to move, or they were too busy attacking each other. The trucks honked their horns, and pummeled into them. The unlucky ones, were ran over and trampled by the train of vehicles. The DJ just continued to stand by and play his music.

But the ones who survived, were trying to kill each other.

Everyone in Station Square were now slaves to malice.

They were participants in a killing game, an all out brawl for survival of the fittest.

* * *

Tails had dropped to his knees with his mouth hung open. His eyes were clouded with a painful feeling of hopelessness. Amy had her hands held up to her mouth, silently crying with trembling legs. Rouge looked, lost and lifeless. Knuckles' mouth was opening and closing, but he didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. Finally, the commander, his face held that of pure devastation.

Sonic's world, Mobius...

...It was near the brink of self-destruction.

Everything, was unadulterated anarchy.

True chaos.

* * *

 **END - 16**

 **EDIT: Sigh...so...this chapter was actually finished a month ago. I um, just never got the time to proof read it and get rid of things I didn't like. I know what you're all thinking: "Hey. Where the _fuck_ were you?" Well, I have no excuse. All I can say is that I've been trying to work out the whole college thing, you know how that is. But other than that, I was just lazy and had a really bad case of writer's block. And artist's block. And well, every thing else's block. My whole creative mojo just went out of the window. I couldn't tell you why, I wasn't necessarily depressed. I just, didn't feel like getting to my creative juices for a while. In any case, I'm feeling a little bit more inspired, so I'm gonna try my hardest to get the next chapter out to you guys sooner. I am sorry for the delay. I seem to keep doing that, and I never have any good excuse. So again, I'm sorry for the long wait. Please don't forget to review. (Everything else from here on out was already written and proof-read.)**

 **I've been a little too soft on this story. But that was intentional.**

 **I want everyone to know that anything that happens from here on out, won't be for the faint of heart. I write very horrible subjects such as murder or extreme violence. If you're a loyal reader of mine, then you already know this, and you know I don't show mercy. I don't see too many Sonic stories with subjects as heavy as mine. Or rather, I don't see too many Sonic stories with heavy subjects that are _written in graphic detail._ Well, if you don't like them or can't handle them, I suggest you stop reading now and move onto something else. Scourge won't pull any punches and neither will I.**

 **Also, please don't forget to review. They're important, and I read every single one of them.**

 **Also, Scourge _totally_ isn't dressed like a Danganronpa character, I swear. (Cough, cough, references.)**

 **Anyway, bonus time. There's only one for this chapter, though.**

1\. Scourge is excellent with computers and is a hacker. Sonic only knows how to use a basic PC.


	17. He's Losing It

**17 - He's Losing It**

* * *

The hedgehog duo woke up the next morning bright and early to return back to the HQ. The guards weren't there anymore, for some reason. They just assumed they returned to base after a while or whatever. Anyway, when they entered the building after going through some minor security measures, something felt wrong. The second they stepped inside, the air immediately felt strange. Like there was, thick tension spreading around. It didn't feel intimidating or angry, it felt sullen and miserable. Like something awful happened not too long ago.

When they walked by some soldiers who politely greeted them a hello, they had obvious masks on their faces. Not literal masks, but fake smiles and fake happy expressions. Not only that, but any solider who was patrolling or guarding an area seemed more stricter than usual. More quiet as well. Of course, they were always like that, but things were never _this_ severe. They even passed by Zespio, whom which, gave them a nod and just walked away. His eyes were low, and his head was down. He seemed sad, and everyone else did too. What happened?

With worried expressions, Shadow and Sonic made a bee-line for Zonic's office. After they arrived at the floor of his room, they caught him stepping out of it and locking the door to it. Sonic put on a smile and waved, saying, "Heya Z! What's up?" He greeted his twin happily. And then, Zonic slowly turned to them, and made the most penetrating ice-cold stare they'd ever seen. He looked beyond enraged. He didn't even look just angry or stoic, he looked like he was _gone_. Like he was no longer there. It was as if his persona wasn't even existent. To this, Sonic didn't say a word and took a step back carefully. Shadow, furrowed his brows and made a glare back. More protective than challenging.

That's when Zonic's face appeared to fade back to normal, and looked more lively. "Good, you're both here. Excellent." He said as he took the key out of the lock and placed it in his back pocket. With his normal authoritative stature, he made a gesture for them to follow him. After giving each other a side glance, they reluctantly followed the commander. They returned to the elevator they used to arrive at the floor, and was now using it to get down. The building was very big, so it took them a while to move. While they waited for their stop, Sonic took the chance to ask Zonic what was wrong.

"Um," He grimaced, earning the lieutenant general's attention.

"Something wrong, Sonic prime?"

Sonic stopped talking. Why was he playing dumb? Zonic may have been oblivious to his strict and bland persona, but he knew when he gave harsh glares. And what he did back there, was probably the meanest face he ever saw him make. Usually when he glared at Sonic, it was to get a point across or to threaten him in a playful manner. But with that face, he looked like he really wanted to kill someone. And he never ever looked at him that way before. Zonic was observant and picked up on things quickly, even his own actions. He knew damn well that they noticed he was in a horrible mood just now. "The HQ's super quiet. The atmosphere feels pretty thick. Somethin' happen?"

"Ah, not that I can recall. Nothing significant happened yesterday. If it did, I would have told you." The officer explained, making Sonic scowl. Zonic looked away before he did so, so he didn't catch it, but Shadow did. Sonic didn't like that answer, because he lied right to his face. No matter how sincere it may have sounded, that was a bad lie. Something did happen, and that's why everyone looked like their family dog just got put down. "Oh yes, my apologies. Today, a lot of our units need to scout and do some patrolling. So, I have to do a line up to check my men and then send them off to their appropriate locations." He made a very small smile. "It's also practice for what we're planning to perform on the first and final day of the festival."

Shadow could tell that Sonic didn't want to give a response at the moment. Despite being a little angry at Zonic's previous statement, he also seemed deep in thought. He answered for him to carry on the conversation. "You're doing a performance?"

Zonic nodded. "Indeed. To celebrate our victory against Eggman Nega, we perform a series of events at once. An airshow, a ship show, and a gun show."

"I see, so a highlight for each branch of your military."

"Precisely. Our navy, our army and our air force."

"Sounds interesting. I hope we'll have front row seats to see it."

The commander made a small chuckle. "As my guests and my friends, I'll be sure to pull a few strings so that only you two have the best view."

Sonic suddenly chimed in cheerfully. "Sweet! Can't wait to see it."

The ultimate life form noticed that sudden change in attitude. He knew something, but it was obvious that he didn't want it to show. He probably didn't feel like getting into another argument with the commander. He'd ask him about it later.

After they made it to their destination, the three hedgehogs appeared on the ground floor. If he planned to send a certain amount of soldiers from the branches of their military, how would that work? The HQ wasn't too far away from a coast, so their ships must be close by. But their planes were in some kind of hangar at the very top floor, right? How would they get to where they need to be? Ah wait, they probably had chutes or something to go up or down.

They went down a long large hallway that had several doors and rooms for numerous purposes. They saw their bomb squad inspecting some kind of equipment, while they saw some scientists marching to their labs. They had pretty much anything that involved a crime here, didn't they? Explosives, poisons, guns, aquatic assaults, air attacks, cyber attacks...Yeah he swore he saw a huge ass computer lab as they walked past. They had people who hunted hackers here, too. They had counselors here as well, who tried to talk with inmates, but their main focus was to study psychopaths. They had _everything_ here.

No wonder they were so feared. Their military wasn't just a bunch of soldiers, it was that and more. It was like, convicts had more to fear of than just being caught by some officer. They had to fear _everyone_ , even if they didn't have a pair of handcuffs or a gun on their hip.

Towards the end of the hallway, were three separate large entryways. They looked as if they had thick metal shutters on them that were lifted up not too long ago. Probably a safety measure, for anyone who tried to plan on escaping through one of these exits to the outside world. Zonic had stopped here, and kept his back turned. Suddenly, maybe five dozen men and women came marching through. They were simultaneously moving, almost like robots. Their forms were straight and confident, their faces blank yet determined. Then, they spread out evenly before lining up on the walls. They were so organized, that they even placed themselves in height order. Zector was one of the ones in the back since he was fairly tall, and Zespio was seen more in the middle since he was around the same size as the three hedgehogs.

They all saluted at the same time, and kept their positions. Sonic and Shadow took this chance to move out of the way so that Zonic could inspect them properly. They figured this would take a good ten minutes. They gave a small glance at each other before narrowing their eyes at his soldiers. As he was inspecting them, some of them were purposely putting themselves in bad form. If someone wasn't in the proper stance, Zonic would scold them harshly and physically correct them. Like a sergeant from boot camp. They saw a female soldier purposely spread her legs a little too far apart, putting herself in a sloppy posture. So Zonic gave her a few words before kneeling down and roughly pulling her legs closer together. They saw her face become dreamy, like the boy she had a crush on just touched her. Then, a male soldier had his saluting position off, with his hand not at the right angle. So Zonic forcefully placed it in the right spot, close to his face. The soldier looked as if he nearly passed out from the touch.

Sonic and Shadow made a look of repulsion. Those nasty little bastards. Basically, almost everyone in the HQ had the hots for Zonic. Probably why he had so many love letters on his bullet board, and that cake box. That was probably an anonymous gift. Everyone was flirting with him. What happened to everyone being all sad and depressed?

They could have at least acted a little more subtle about it...

* * *

"Alright Z, what's the plan?" Sonic hopped on top of Zonic's desk and let his legs kick in the air, up and down. He watched as his twin walked over and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Shadow stood by it, and leaned his legs against it, while crossing his arms. Zonic fidgeted a bit while adjusting the collar of his uniform. He did look a bit uncomfortable and itchy. He crossed his legs and let his arms rest on the chair arms.

"Right." He nodded. "No plan." He shook his head, making the two almost fall off the desk.

"H-Huh?" Sonic blinked.

"Not yet. We'll discuss it in a second. We need to talk about your forms, first." The officer held up a fist underneath his chin and crossed one of his arms over his chest. He loomed his eyes over at his Mobian twin, thinking about what he was about to say to him. This would be a lot on him, but both he and Shadow had to know. He locked the office door, making sure that his own two personal soldiers couldn't listen in on their conversation. This was extremely private, highly classified. "Sonic prime, you are aware you have four forms, yes?"

Sonic nodded quickly, without mumbling a word. Shadow also watched the lieutenant general's body language carefully.

"Good. I'll name them all." He then tilted his head to the side a little, and pointed to something on his desk that was behind Sonic. His twin blinked and looked from behind, seeing a black binder on the desk. It wasn't thick like the other ones Zonic had, but it still had some info inside. He seized it in his hands and turned around to hold it up to his military counterpart. Zonic moved over and grabbed it in his own hands before opening it. "This binder is top secret, and was locked away in a safe hidden somewhere in this room. It is gravely important info, that only you two can know about. And Shadow prime, I'm only telling you this as well, should Sonic prime lose control. Do you understand?"

Shadow nodded reassuringly. "Of course."

"Then I will name and briefly explain all four." He flipped to a page and put his finger down to a document, his other hand balancing and holding the binder as he read. "The first one, the **gold one**. You both know of this one very well, **Super Sonic**. You use him when you are in a bind in battle, usually your last resort if you have the option." His eyes traveled downwards onto the next. "The next is the form you almost transformed into yesterday. The **dark one** , **Dark Sonic**. It is rare that he comes out, since you keep him on a tight leash. If he ever appears, it's only because you can't control yourself, Sonic prime." He then flipped to the next page and sighed heavily. These were the best and the worst. "The last two are your most powerful." He said that almost like a warning. "The _**scarlet one**_ , _ **the demon**_. You've yet to see it Shadow prime, and Sonic prime has only seen it once in his life time. It has powers beyond understanding, and is a literal evil entity that can plague plenty of planets at once with destruction. It doesn't necessarily have a name, but it takes a similar form to Super Sonic, just more twisted with red swirling eyes."

The hero just looked ashamed, slightly looking away from Shadow. The ultimate life form's eyes widened with shock. A being able to destroy plenty of planets at once? A demonic entity? That was surely intimidating.

"Finally, the _**light one**_. This is another form Sonic prime has only met once in his life when he was younger. It is a pure being, and has great power as well. It is also capable of destroying more than one planet at once, but it also has the limited ability to reverse permanent damage. I don't know it's name myself, but it's a being untainted by evil." He closed the binder and handed it over to Sonic to put it back where it was. His twin grasped it and placed it behind himself where it belonged. "These forms aren't just forms, they are higher beings. They're similar to deities."

The dark hedgehog was taken aback. "They're _Gods_?"

"Not really Gods, more like divine spirits that have been reduced to raw, unadulterated power. However," Zonic added. "They aren't without a conscious, and are very much alive inside of Sonic prime. They connect with him, and merge with him when he needs to use their powers. But, like Dark Sonic or the demon, they will try and overcome him with their influence, taking over his body and mind." He explained carefully. "For Scourge to have the scarlet one willingly work with him, is a very serious problem, but you already know that." Zonic leaned back. "Your forms weren't created, they were born a very long time ago on your home island. They reigned there for centuries, but were reborn inside of your body to be used at your disposal."

The blue Mobian was agape in shock. "Z...Why do you know so much about this stuff? I don't understand."

"Sonic prime, we both were born with a purpose, just like Shadow prime." He glanced over at Shadow before looking back at his twin. "Your entire bloodline was born to watch over and protect Mobius eternally. Should you die, another Mobian with your specific blood would be born decades later. Christmas Island's strange and immense chaotic power is responsible for spawning your blood line, and keeping it alive." He placed a hand to himself on his heart and continued to speak. "My blood line's purpose, was to protect you and other realities. Your existence in itself is extremely important to the universe, as there are other realities with your counterpart since you're the original. But I am the one who manages all of them, to monitor them. I am not just a zone cop who patrols other realities, I'm the one who prevents them from falling apart. I interfere in battles, I say certain things to certain people, I arrest criminals that can be too great of a threat to handle by normal means. I am the 'big brother' of you all. I watch over all of you." He stood up out of the chair while still holding his hand to his heart. "I am not just Zonic the Zone Cop. I am **Zonic, the Overseer of all Realities**."

After presenting his true title, Sonic's jaw almost dropped to the floor. He knew Zonic was someone who patrolled and watched over the realities, but he thought that was a duty all no zone officers had. But no, his role was much more important, and much more discreet. Behind the scenes, Zonic watched over everything. He really was a big brother. Not just to Sonic, but to every other Sonic out there.

"And you," Zonic gave a particular stare at Sonic. "You're the Champion of all Realities, so you're one of the most important people alive right now."

"... _Woah_." Sonic murmured. His mind was freakin' blown.

"Your blood line and my blood line are very crucial to the universe. For you're one of the only Sonics in existence with these powers, and I am the new big brother for the realities."

"Wait wait," Shadow raised his hand up to the blue Mobian's forehead and plucked it. "There's more of these idiots running around on other worlds? Don't tell me there's another green demon spawn out there wreaking havoc."

Zonic chuckled at this, while Sonic whined painfully and slapped Shadow's hand away. "Oh Shadow prime, there's so many realities, I would need at least a full package of fresh copy paper to write down all the ones that I know of. There's even some that I have not yet visited. There are millions if not billions of Sonics, Shadows, Tails', Rouges...The list goes on and on." He then smiled. "But most of the realities that I've visited have good Sonics." He added warmly. "And now," He clapped his hands together. "The plan that I've devised, we will finally discuss."

* * *

He gave them a summary, and promised to give them more specific details when the time was right. After reporting everything to the warden, they came up with a conclusion. Scourge will return to make a full scale attack on No Zone. They suspect that he's trying to start a war. Sonic and Shadow's faces tightened with concern. That's exactly what Sonic was afraid of when he first got here.

They knew for sure that _he_ knew that Sonic was here, and they know that he's obsessed with capturing him. He won't let Sonic go so easily, so he'd be coming back for him soon. They already had their weapons ready, and their soldiers prepared for anything. They assume he'll attack before the end of this month at the very least, and took the proper steps to ensure that their citizens would be able to evacuate immediately without issue. The entire building itself, was prepared to launch a counterattack against anything he had up his sleeve. When he mentioned that the entire building itself was a 'weapon', that confused the two hedgehogs. He also said he had an initial plan that involved Sonic, but that was something they had to discuss in private.

Anyway, if and when they're attacked, Sonic and Shadow will be on the front lines along with Zonic's elites, while the rest of his soldiers backed them up. However, he didn't want Sonic to fight Scourge himself. They wanted to make sure that he didn't get his hands on him again. Once things were in motion, he would inform them both on transmitters when a certain phase of their plan needed to alter to the next. But he was confident that the two hedgehogs knew what to do when the time to fight came upon them.

After their discussion was over, Zonic announced that the hedgehogs were dismissed and were allowed to do whatever they pleased in town. He gave Shadow a transmitter, just in case they needed to contact them for emergencies. As the three walked out of the commander's office, Sonic pouted and took the courage to ask about the elephant in the room. He gently grabbed his twin's padded shoulder and turned him around to face him. "Hey, Z," He began carefully. "What's up?"

"Hm? Sonic prime, I don't believe anything is wrong at the moment. Why are you concerned?" He asked with 'genuine' puzzlement.

Sonic scoffed. "You're playing dumb again, and lying to me. I don't like that." He let go of his shoulder and crossed his arms while Shadow watched cautiously. His tone was pretty low, it was growing with irritation. Zonic caught onto this and sighed heavily.

"You know me too well, Sonic prime." He admitted sadly. "My apologies for lying, I didn't mean to offend you."

"C'mon Z," Sonic replied with a more lighter tone. "You said yourself that we're brothers, right?"

"Well, hypothetically-"

"- _So_ ," He cut him off sarcastically. "You should tell me what's wrong." The Mobian hero smiled tenderly at the overseer, making a gentle expression. He looked welcoming and sympathetic, making that charming smile that let him know that he wanted to help out. Such a kind soul, this one was. No one of Sonic's bloodline was as kind as he, according to past overseers. Zonic closed his eyes with an exhale, before opening them back up to see Shadow's gaze. The ebony life form nodded his head once, signaling that he should just tell them what the problem was instead of keeping it to himself.

"..." Zonic looked away. "Fine. I will show you."

The commander then guided them to the elevator so that they could travel to the floor of the medical ward. Immediately, Sonic and Shadow felt the air get heavier with each step into the ward. The nurses and doctors rushing around had a look of fear or sorrow on their faces. But once they saw their leader walk near the hospice-Oh Chaos no. _Hospice?_ Wasn't that the place where people died? Where people were doomed to die, and had little to no chance at life? People who just, sat there in their beds, waiting to be unplugged? Sonic felt nauseous all of a sudden. A-Anyway, once they saw their leader walk near the hospice, they almost scrambled away like roaches. One of the leading doctors, who was a duck, gulped and saluted his lieutenant general.

"S-Sir. Very nice to see you today," He peeked over Zonic's head and gave a smile to Shadow and Sonic. "And to you as well, Sonic prime, Shadow prime." He fearfully glanced back at his boss. "Will you be visiting him again, sir?"

"No need to be so fearful of me, doctor." Zonic said rather, apathetically. "I'm in a better state now. Forgive me for my recent behavior."

"Oh no no, it's understandable, sir. I assume these two are joining you, so please, come this way." He waved his wing over to entrance of the corridor, gesturing for all three hedgehogs to follow suit. Thankfully, many of the rooms were empty. There were only a few soldiers here, and the doctor leading them to a certain room explained that the soldiers who were here, were getting ready to transition to the regular medical ward. They were recovering greatly, and were no longer chronically ill or wounded. As they walked, Sonic felt Shadow walk a bit too close. When the hero was about to say something, he saw the look on his face.

Shadow looked angry, and terrified all at once. His expression was too calm, but his eyes told differently. His hands were balled up into fists. This hospice, must have reminded him of the Ark, and that poor girl Maria. He was walking closer because he was starting to lose it by being here. Suddenly, the ebony hedgehog felt a warm hand grasp his own. He flinched and looked down at his wrist, to see Sonic holding his hand. He looked up at his companion, who just smiled back at him. He understood what was wrong. He didn't have to say a word or explain, he could feel his pain.

Someone who understood you without having to speak or ask why...That was something else he loved about Sonic.

Soon enough, they were in front of a door. It was all the way at the end of the hall. Zonic still had on the same dull look from earlier. The two hedgehogs could tell from the doctor's face, that he didn't want to open the door. He was eyeing Zonic for way too long, with his hand almost trembling on the door knob. He clenched his eyes shut and grimaced harshly, before looking away and turning the knob to open the entrance. He stepped aside to let everyone else walk in. Zonic walked in first, while everyone else went in afterwards. Zonic stood against the wall next to the door, with his hands behind his back.

He silently stared at the bed before them.

Sonic looked at the bed and frowned. There was a white sheet over this person's face, and it covered them from head to toe. The heart monitor beside the bed was kinda slow and irregular. When Shadow made a step to move, he nearly tripped over a tube and some wires that was connected to the bed. His eyes widened. This reminded him too much of Maria's medical equipment. She needed so many tubes and plugs in her skin, tainting her frail body. He couldn't look for too long. Whoever this was, they were in serious danger. The grip on Sonic' hand tightened, making Shadow look over desperately. Sonic's face was saddened, but adamant. He didn't want Shadow to run away from this. It was almost as if he could tell what he was thinking.

 _This isn't her. This will never be her anymore. She's in a better place, and she's free of her sickness. You know that, so don't panic._

 _I'm here._

He was there for him.

He felt his heart beat slightly faster. He swallowed hard and sucked it up. Yes, he needed to face this head on and quit thinking about the past. He slowly faced the body covered with the sheets again, his hold on Sonic as firm as ever. They watched the doctor walk over, and place his feathered hands on the covers. Sonic and Shadow prepared themselves. It couldn't be that bad. It was just someone resting, that's all.

"Well boys," The fowl started, "This," He swiftly uncovered the patient of the sheet.

That's when they realized who this person was.

"-Is Lieutenant General Zhadow." He said while folding up the sheet into his arms. Sonic let go of Shadow's hand, and placed it on his own mouth from gasping. The person that they carried here, the person that Zonic couldn't stop talking about...The person that looked just like Shadow, was in this bed. An oxygen mask was heavily planted on his muzzle, and his eyes were open. Staring at the ceiling. His fur didn't look as shiny as it was supposed to, and it didn't look as black. It looked a little gray. His chest fur wasn't a healthy looking white, and the color in his eyes were almost empty. Sonic couldn't even find a scent on this person. It was like they weren't even here.

It was like he was dead.

Seeing an exact twin of himself like this, put a horrible taste in Shadow's mouth. No, it didn't matter. He still couldn't look at this body for too long. It made him too uncomfortable. His ruby eyes shook, before grimacing and looking away sharply. Why, why did he look so skinny? He had so many tubes and wires in his body. From the looks of it, this person was fated to a coma but...It looked _worse_ than that. This, couldn't have been just a coma.

Then, they realized why Zonic was acting funny.

Oh no...

They slowly turned around, distraught written all over their faces. The doctor looked down at the floor. They saw that Zonic still looked exactly the same. No, that couldn't have been an honest reaction. He was holding it in, he was hiding his feelings. Sonic tried hugging himself to give himself amenity and gain a little confidence. He took one step towards Zonic with an arm outstretched. "..Zonic-"

"..!" Spit dripped from his peach lips with a loud cough, startling everyone in the room. Zonic was still trying to keep the same exact face, and he was failing. His body was shifting and shuddering, his knees were quaking. His face was darkened, and he looked so scared. He tried to keep his position, so he could still keep his image as commander. But he couldn't keep the tears from falling. He coughed again, with more spit falling onto the floor.

Shadow knew what that meant. "He's going to puke." He warned. Then he saw Zonic's eyes fade faster with each second. His breathing was shortening, and he was panting. He was coughing, and he was starting to grab at his own throat. Then he started to grab at his own chest, they all could hear his heartbeat over the monitor. These were more serious symptoms, symptoms he recognized all too well. "He's having a panic attack!" Shadow shouted.

"Zonic, calm down!" The hero tried to reach out and touch him again, until Shadow snatched him away. Zonic screamed at them to get away the second he came too close. "Damn it, do something!" Sonic whipped his head at the duck.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Zonic hollered. That's it, he couldn't hold it in anymore. He placed his hands on his stomach and hunched his back. He vomited all over the floor below him and fell to his knees.

The doctor pressed his fingers into his collar, and spoke into the hidden transmitter that was placed in his clothes. "The commander is in need of serious medical attention, dispatch two nurses and an additional doctor from level three to room 304 immediately." He rushed over and crouched down to his commander's side, who began to yell and shout for him to get off. His mental state was deteriorating, and he needed to be apprehended this instant. With a grit of his teeth, the duck pressed his fingers on his collar again for an additional message. "I need half a dozen soldiers to apprehend the commander! His mental state is in question and he needs to be taken to the psychological ward this instant!" He looked up at Sonic and Shadow and pointed to the door. "You two! Please leave, we shall handle this!"

Sonic was speechless, but he didn't want to leave him behind. "B..But Zon-" He couldn't finish his mumbling, because Shadow had already took him by the hand and sprinted out of the room. As they ran out, all they could hear was Zonic's screams. He screamed that guy's name, Zhadow, over and over. He sounded like someone was _killing_ him. It was too painful to hear. He couldn't even cover his ears to try and drown it out, that's how horrifying it was. They saw Zespio and Zector push and shove bystanders out of the way to run past them. Other soldiers and doctors joined them and fought to try and get in that room.

Dear God...

After a while, they waited outside the ward. It's been ten minutes, and Sonic was getting antsy. Patience was not his virtue. Shadow tried comforting him while no one was looking, and wrapped an arm around him to pull him close. He whispered to him that he would be fine, and that they shouldn't worry too much. Everything would be alright. They shared a chaste kiss before just leaning against each other. After all that talk about being the big brother of them all, after proving time to time again how mature and calm he was...He crumbled into nothing right before their eyes. He threw a tantrum, an extreme tantrum. He couldn't take it, he couldn't be strong anymore. People worshiped him, kissed the ground that he walked on and respected him for being so cool and hard boiled. Others did the same with Sonic. They kept forgetting one important thing-

Zonic was no God. He was just like everyone else.

He worked too hard, and tried to hide his feelings so that his soldiers wouldn't lose morale, even though they could sense it anyway. He held it in for too long, and this was the result.

Sonic understood all too well. He was a hero, but that didn't mean he didn't have feelings either. Feelings he didn't want anyone to see. To see him so weak...

That's when the doors of the ward burst open. Shadow and Sonic shot their attention over worriedly. Zonic was walking out steadily, with both Zector and Zespio holding his shoulders and arms securely. His uniform jacket was off, so all he had on was the dress shirt underneath. It was tainted with puke, so they probably discarded it. Zonic looked exactly the same as before, dull. Something was still very wrong with him, and he was glaring at the floor intensely. They could hear Zector trying to talk to him as some nurses checked his face and wrote things down. "We're gonna take you home, okay? And hey! Maybe we can getcha some cake from that fancy bakery that just opened up! I know you've been dying to try one!"

"They're pricey, but it's worth it. I'm sure you'll love it." Zespio added softly.

Zonic said nothing in return.

The surrounding soldiers beside the crowd's transmitters all beeped at once. So did Zespio's and Zector's. That wasn't good. Then, they heard a voice on a loud speaker from the ceiling. _"We've got a 10-34 level four riot in the courtyard, repeat, level four. All combat patrolling officers please report to the prison courtyard immediately for offensive apprehension."_

"A riot now of all times?" Shadow grumbled. His ear twitched at the sound of grunting and concerned warnings. Both he and Sonic looked to see Zonic moving to get out of his constrained hold. Zector with his strong arms, tried his hardest to keep his boss from rushing into action. Zespio tried calming him down, but it wasn't working. Even the doctors and nurses were trying to hold him back, as the other soldiers rushed to get down to the prison.

"Sir? Sir! Sir, please calm down-" They tried to say, but to no avail. "Commander, _no-!_ "

With a few kicks, punches and some elbows, Zonic got free. He elbowed Zector in the stomach, hard, making the crocodile nearly throw up his insides and fall to the ground.

He bolted out of the medical ward and disappeared from sight.

That was seriously bad. They needed to go after him! Zespio rubbed his chin from the knuckle-sandwich Zonic gave and glanced at the hedgehogs. "Sonic prime, Shadow prime! Don't take the elevator, take the emergency chute! It's the fastest way to get to the prison. It's down the hall from the elevator to the left!"

The two nodded and ran in the appropriate direction.

* * *

"He tried to tell you, we all tried to tell you so many times, and now look what happened! You're damn pride costed their lives! There are at least twenty people dead now, all because you don't have the balls to handle things yourself! And you wonder why Sonic does a better job than you? That's because unlike you, he doesn't sit on his fucking ass!" The echidna yelled as he shoved his fist into the elder human's face, sending him into the floor. No one even stopped him. Not Amy, not Rouge, not Tails. They were all still in shock at what they just witnessed.

Rouge was desperately trying to get her communication device working so she could try and contact Shadow, but it wasn't going through. This was the worst time for it to malfunction, they were in serious trouble. Out the windows of the tall building of GUN HQ, Amy watched tearfully as people murdered each other left and right. She saw a dead body fall on the street every two minutes. If she saw a child's corpse, she was going to lose it. They didn't deserve this, no one did! Not...

Oh God, Cream! Her, Cheese and Vanilla, they were still out there some where! They weren't near Station Square, but she was sure Scourge's power reached their area. They wouldn't be safe, they had to find them! Just as she was about to turn around and yell for the group to come together so they could form a plan, Tails did it for her. "Guys!" He yelled, earning everyone's attention, even the GUN commander. "I'm not gonna sit here and cry while people are dying. Sonic would kill me if I let that happen, so I'm not planning on staying. I got a plan, but I need your help." He looked at Knuckles, who was livid. His purple eyes were flaming, but once he felt Tails' determination in his voice, he respectfully calmed himself down to listen to what he had to say.

Amy sucked in a large breath of air, before slowly letting it out. Just breathe, in and out. That's what Ms. Vanilla always said to do whenever there was a freak out situation. She'd still never get over this, not that anyone would, but she'd stay content for Tails' sake. Rouge looked at the device with a shaking hand. She grimaced and looked away from it. Neither Shadow or Sonic would be helping them out of this. They had to do this on their own. She placed the device back in her bosom and gave her attention to the fox. If the kid had a plan, she sure as hell would love to hear it. Out of everyone in the world, they were everyone else's only hope. And they couldn't sit around and do nothing.

Tails knew for sure from the looks on their faces that they were ready to hear what he had to say. "Alright." He exhaled heavily for a brief moment. This was a very grave scenario, that had little hope. They had to do everything they could to stop this. "So, Scourge took down the internet and most of the satellites, but he's not the only hacker in town. I can fight my way through the network and get it back online in no time. Once that happens, I'll hack my way into turning off those weird radios that's shooting all that chaos energy." He darted his eyes at Rouge. "Rouge, GUN has attack choppers, right? Take one with Amy. Those radios gotta be on higher ground to send off all those wavelengths in the sky, so you both take down as many as you can to weaken the signals. At least the ones in the Square." He looked over at Knuckles. "Knuckles, you and I take a chopper back to my place to get the Tornado and some communication devices." He reached his attention to all of them. "We'll all rendezvous back at HQ, and come up with another plan."

In unison, all of the Mobians nodded.

Before Tails went to move over to Knuckles, he looked back at the GUN commander and just sucked his teeth in disgust. "Calling for an evacuation is useless at this point. The most you could do now, is lock up the HQ so no one except for us can get in or out." He turned his back on the human. "All I can say to you, is to find a safe place to hide."

He walked away, his namesakes swishing as he left the room with all three of his allies.

The human was sprawled out on his office floor, and he clenched his eyes shut. The sky was falling, and there was an extreme amount of pressure on everyone out there trying to survive.

...But that fox kid, was something else.

* * *

 **END - 17**

 **Hey! I got this one out pretty quickly, right? I mean, I didn't get it out as early as I'd like but, hey it's something. At least it wasn't a month's worth of waiting. By the way, for those of you who think that Zhadow is dead, he's not. He's just...severely comatose. Well, it's a little worse than that, but I won't say anything because I'd be spoiling things. So I'll just keep my mouth shut and let you all speculate.**

 **Sorry, no bonus for this chapter, but I do have a question that I'm sure everyone can easily figure out.**

 **Who is** **_the light one_** **? They've been mentioned more than once.**

 **Anyway, thank you all for the reviews, you all are way too forgiving. Don't stop reviewing though! Keeps me going. Keeps me from putting a noose around my neck, ya know? Haha, just kidding, just joking. No but seriously, I really do read every single one. It really helps me stay inspired. I'm already working on the next chapter, and it's looking pretty good. Hopefully I'll have it out a little earlier.**


	18. Faults

**18 - Faults**

* * *

Well...

The prison riot incident was dissolved, but...

There were now twenty seven prisoners now stuck in the ER. They uh, have varying injuries. Five prisoners had broken ribs and some broken limbs. Seven prisoners had serious migraines or concussions, accompanied with internal bleeding. Four prisoners had either a broken jaw or severely swollen black eyes. So severe, that they could no longer see. Six prisoners had more minor injuries, such as broken wrists or fractured fingers. Five prisoners had broken teeth, or fractured ankles. There were maybe, a little more than thirty prisoners involved in the riot. And every single one, including unfortunate bystanders, were now in the medical ward. Any prisoner who even dared to throw up their fists for a fight, were heavily bruised. At least fifteen officers rushed down to the prison to detain someone.

Not a prisoner, but their commander.

Zonic, had committed extreme police brutality. He nearly killed several people, good or not. Killing any prisoner was forbidden until the day of their execution, should they be on death row. He broke the rules, and he broke a law that _he_ forced the warden to create. Once Zonic rose up to the appropriate rank, he had the authority to demand for the warden to get rid of 'prisoner hazing'. _Prisoner hazing_ , was a law in No Zone that allowed police brutality to criminals. This was a rule that applied outside of the prison as well, so no one was safe. Even criminals who only committed petty crime, or simply just littered, were allowed to be battered. This law made Zonic sick to his stomach, so he did everything he could to get rid of such a horrible rule.

And yet, he ironically broke it.

The fifteen officers, including Shadow and Sonic, were forced to ultimately resolve the issue. Prisoners were still out and about, despite the terrifying display of violence given by their lieutenant general. Some officers had to abscond and rush to arrest and detain them. The rest desperately tried restraining Zonic from striking anyone else. Though, they were having difficulty. This was their leader, the top dog. No Zone HQ itself was petrifying enough, and you had a lot of people to be scared of considering how well the military did their jobs. However, at the end of the day, there were only two main people you _needed_ to fear. Zonic, and officer Zhadow. Zonic operated the HQ, and Zhadow operated the prison. Of course because of his absence and now unfortunate chronic state, Zonic was now in charge of both buildings. Everyone feared their main lieutenant general.

He was strong, he was frightening. He was the person you feared the moment you were arrested in No Zone. Not a judge, not a detective or investigator, not other notorious prisoners, _him._

You fear _Zonic._

After yelling some words for the commander to calm down, Sonic managed to verbally knock some sense into him. As he was getting pulled down by both Shadow and his handful of officers, Sonic mentioned that Zhadow would hate to see the sight of his partner acting like this. Once he said that, he stopped. _"I know you two were close. Dontcha think he'd be pretty pissed that you're acting like this?! He'd be ashamed of you! I'm sure he'd never want to see you like this, ever!"_ He hollered. Something snapped in the commander's head, telling him to listen to his twin. Soon, he realized his blood pressure was really high, and he felt so heated. He had blacked out. He didn't understand why, and he almost forgot what transpired before he went crazy. He almost didn't realize why he was so angered, until he saw the blood on his hands, and on his clothes.

All he could do was whisper, _"Oh Chaos.."_ He did something horrible just now.

This was all hours ago. Ten hours, to be exact. Sonic and Shadow left to go see Zonic in the morning. Around ten, if they weren't mistaken. After two hours, including the soldier line up and discussing their plans, they went to go see Zhadow. That's when he lost it. Calming him down took approximately ten minutes, and that's when he bolted to the riot. The riot incident lasted only less than half an hour. By the time everything was over and done with, Sonic and Shadow left the building at one in the afternoon. It was almost midnight, now.

They were now at their new temporary residence, worried about their friend. Shadow tried asking Sonic if he ever witnessed his twin act like that before. Sonic was just as baffled as he was and shook his head 'no'. Even though it was a running gag he liked to joke about, Zonic seriously wasn't someone to express many emotions. He can count on one hand how many times he's laughed out loud, or been overjoyed about anything. He's seen him irritated and annoyed plenty of times, but, never enraged. Zonic wasn't the kind of guy to be that angry. Maybe Shadow or Knuckles sure, but not him. Zespio even mentioned that he wasn't that angry when he saw the HQ in ruins. He was too calm and collected to do anything reckless or crazy.

But not according to what they just witnessed.

When Zector came to after being knocked out by his boss, he also mentioned that ever since Zhadow came back in that dreadful condition, he's been a different person. Shadow didn't really understand, but Sonic did.

Zonic was in love with that Zhadow guy. He had to have been.

If that was Shadow in that hospital bed with little to no chance of ever waking up, he'd lose his mind too. Every time he mentioned this Zhadow guy, he always had some kind of passion in his tone. Be it fondness or nostalgia, he always seemed like he enjoyed talking about him to some extent. With someone like Zonic, it was hard to tell whether he really took a liking to someone or not. Hell, Sonic didn't even know if Zonic enjoyed his company or not the second time he visited No Zone. He _just_ learned how to smile, in his opinion. His progression in emotions was worse than Shadow's.

Or, he knows very well how to positively express himself, and he's just really good at hiding it from others. That could definitely be the case, considering he always seems as if he's making himself not smile or laugh during joyful or humorous times. Sonic saw Zonic try and force a frown back on his face before. Sonic could almost never read his twin. However, he knew for sure that Zonic was in love with him. It was a gut feeling, and he knew it was right.

As the moon's illumination shined through their window, Sonic blew out some air of stress. Too many things happened this month. He was now laying in bed, waiting for the ultimate life form's return. He had went to the bathroom not too long ago. Sonic had taken off his gloves and shoes, so he was basically naked in bed. Shadow did the same before heading in the bathroom. After leaving the HQ, they did anything to get their minds off of the incident. They just walked around in town, talked, said sweet nothings to each other. They stopped in a couple of places to see the scenery of their futuristic themed city. At one point, they just went to a park and made out like a couple of teenagers behind a tree. It made them happy, for a time.

They still had a lot of responsibilities weighing on their minds, and they were still worried about their friends.

They returned to Zonic's apartment and just lounged around together up until now. They were planning to go to bed, and return to HQ to check up on Zonic. Though, Sonic mentioned that he had an idea. He didn't elaborate what it was to Shadow, but they were both a little mentally exhausted, so he just brushed it off. Sonic plopped his head on his pillow, laying against the bed completely and blunting his quills. His ear flicked at the sound of a sink. Shadow must have freshened up a little. The said ebony hedgehog walked over to the bed and lifted himself on top of it. He climbed his legs in, while Sonic pulled the sheets over them. They cuddled together and pressed their bodies closer.

Sonic couldn't help but smile. He couldn't remember how long it's been since he laid with someone in bed. After his last bad break up, he didn't date for a very long time. He missed having the feeling of someone with him at night. But, he was never the one who wanted to be spooned, he was usually the spoon-er. Well, that's because he was used to dating girls. He used to be heterosexual, after all. He only just realized he was bisexual a couple years ago. He never dated a guy before. He didn't mind this though, he enjoyed it. Being vulnerable, yet protected by someone else. There was a good feeling to that. Shadow, with low eyes caught the grin on his face and questioned why. "What's so amusing?" He said with a husky voice. He sounded tired. Sonic just nuzzled his head into his chest, pressing his cheek against his chest fur.

"Nothing, I just like you."

"'Like' me, huh?"

"Well, I dunno if you mind me sayin' the L word or not."

"..." Shadow didn't have a reply for that. He just glanced at the sheets below them. Sonic didn't mind his silence, though. He probably still wasn't ready, and he could understand that. It was hard for Sonic at first, too. Even when he was little, when he found and took care of Tails, it was hard to say it to the little vulpine in the first few years. So he didn't mind his reluctance in saying the word at all.

"Hey."

"...?"

"You think Zonic and that Zhadow guy were a thing?"

"In a relationship?" Shadow took that into deep thought. That was a great question. "Now that you mention it, that would explain his irrational outburst. He was out of control."

"Yeah, seriously."

"They may have had something going on, I don't doubt that at all." He looked down at the younger hedgehog, who was face planting himself into his chest. He was adorable sometimes. His lips curled up a little. "After all, you and I are together."

"Ymmgh." He was trying to say 'yeah', but his voice was muffled by his white fur. He then peaked his head from his chest and asked a curious question. "Crazy question but, do you think Scourge met the anti-Shadow?"

Shadow just shook his head. "No. I don't know what the anti version of me is like, but I doubt he'd allow a fool like that to fornicate with him."

Sonic scrunched up his face. "Eww, you gotta use that word though?"

"What, 'fornicate'?" Shadow blinked.

"Yes! Who the hell talks like that? That's like, a word old people use or something."

The elder hedgehog took his arms from Sonic's form while raising a brow. "Something you're trying to imply, hedgehog?"

"Yeah, gramps! I know you're like fifty years old, but don't go all middle ages on me." Shadow just rolled his red eyes and turned over with his back facing Sonic.

"You're a child." He carelessly insulted.

"And you're-" Sonic huffed and pounced on top of his partner. The sheets soon cascaded over them, and Sonic was now on top of Shadow's back. "An asshole." He started to snicker as the dark one fumed underneath him.

"Get off of me, faker." He growled.

"Nnnooooope. I'm gonna stay here. Pretty comfortable."

"I swear to Chaos-"

"And now I'm gonna do this," Sonic reached his hand from behind himself, and traveled his hand lower until he reached Shadow's tail. Then, he went even further down, making Shadow wince and fidget in their position.

"..!? What the fuck are you doing!?"

"Laaanguaaaage~"

"Sonic, I will kill you!" He threatened loudly, trying to pushing himself up, until Sonic brushed his finger tips against a certain place. A place no one's ever touched before. Not even the doctors back in the ARK. The color of his face flushed into red on his tan muzzle, and he couldn't even move anymore. If he did, Sonic's finger would be inserted inside of him.

"Now see," Why did the hero's voice sound so low all of a sudden? "I could be a real dick and shove this right in, no pun intended. But I'm not gonna do that. I'll just," He dragged his fingers lower, touching the dark one's crotch instead. "Touch you here." He touched his hand all over his backside, while his other hand trailed itself down his spine. He took his hand away from Shadow's nether regions, and laid himself fully on top of his body. He was now the one spooning the other. He placed kisses on him, making Shadow flinch and stiffen up. He wasn't used to getting this kind of treatment, after all. "What's the matter? Can't handle it? You touch me like this all the time..." Sonic moaned every single word in his ear.

As Sonic moved his hips against Shadow's bottom, the ultimate lie form felt himself losing his mind. He hated being so easily dominated but, he liked this at the same time. Should he make him get off?

...Maybe he should just see how this plays out. Just this once.

* * *

The green hedgehog with the black baseball detective hat, slipped it from his cranium. He placed it somewhere in his quills as he looked around. His ears twitched as he heard the cries and screams for help. The city was now dark with a familiar red air flowing through the streets. It was both Fleetway, and fresh blood lust arising. He had an additional plan, but he didn't want to put it in effect just yet. He wanted to have a little fun before he left the scene. He whistled a few times, gaining the attention of his 'bride'. Fiona soullessly stepped in front of her 'groom', and awaited his orders.

"Hey babe?" He asked while watching people fall and die in the streets of Twinkle Park. After driving away from Station Square, he had a feeling Sonic's friends would show up sooner or later. He didn't feel like dealing with them right now, so he just hopped to another part of town before they arrived to attempt at stopping him. He and Fiona were now on the edge of a roof on a building, that was quickly deserted after Scourge's global announcement. "I wanna drive a Revology."

She didn't respond back, of course.

"I see one down there, still in good use." His eyes glinted red, mentally commanding for her to have some of her personality back, just more obedient. Now looking more lively, Fiona blinked her eyes twice before smiling lovingly at the green hedgehog. She made small noises of passion, and wrapped her arms around his torso. She nuzzled her face into his neck and used one of her white gloved hands to caress the side of his face. He didn't turn her way, though. He was still eyeing that car. "Let's hijack it and take it for a spin, like old times."

She pressed her painted lips on his cheek, leaving a pink lip print on his muzzle. "That sounds fun," She replied in a dream-like voice. She sounded so delighted. Fiona only acted clingy when they were alone, or showing off their love. Though she was only controlled to act like this now, it almost felt natural. Nostalgic in the days where she actually loved him, and didn't see Sonic every single time they made love.

Hearing her scream his name instead of his, over and over... _and over_ again...

Ah, those days were beneath him now. He hoped.

Shame he could only feel happiness in a mind-controlled girlfriend. That said something about him, and he knew that.

"Alright then," He smirked. He grabbed her wrist and prepared himself to jump from the ledge, all the way to the hood of that white Revology. "Let's go!" He cried before hopping off with Fiona in hand. She yelped, but yelled with excitement as they fell down. They soon landed as soft as they could on the roof of their new ride, so they wouldn't damage it. They jumped off and ran to the sides to open the doors. Locked, of course. Scourge stuck out his tongue and massaged his fingers on his head to concentrate, his blue eyes returning to crimson once more. Hacking vehicles with this new ability was a little hard.

Soon, they heard some beeps from the car, and the headlights flickered on. Ah, the vehicle was now lit up and activated. They opened the doors and slipped in to sit down. Scourge got behind the wheel, the grin on his face widening. Fiona looked over the dashboard and saw the meter of their gas. She giggled at what she saw. "Babe, the car's full! We can floor it!" She exclaimed.

"Oh _hell_ yeah!" The hedgehog leered as he initiated the engine, his eyes turning back to blue. He looked over some buttons and found what he was looking for. He pressed something, and soon, the roof of the car folded down. "That's what the fuck I'm talkin' about!" He yelled. "Pedal to the metal baby!" He rammed the heel of his foot onto the gas, and the car tore out into the streets. There were still some people trying to escape the city with their cars, so Scourge brutally destroyed traffic. He skidded along the pavements, rubbing tire marks into the concrete. He slipped against other vehicles, side swiping their doors and making dents. He caused others to crash into each other, and some exploded as they rammed into objects such as poles or fire hydrants.

Fiona squealed in anticipation. They were going so fast! Sure he had super speed, but nothing beat the rush of speeding in a new sexy car! Her hair was violently blowing in the wind. Her veil even flew off of her face. They were going at least over a hundred miles per hour. Scourge's quills nearly flew off his head, but he wouldn't even care if they did. He was too busy hollering and screaming in joy. They both were far too hype to stop now. They zoomed past three blocks already, and it's only been less than a minute. They made swift turns, driving over civilians. They ran people over who weren't quick enough to get out of the way. To dodge trucks, they swerved to the side. Sometimes they just drove head on and dared for a car to either make a move, or crash right into them.

Traffic lights fell over, traffic signs were torn off their metal stands, and people died all along the way. To take a small break, Scourge stopped the car at an upcoming gas station. A large sign with neo lights shined above them. It was still functional. Both he and Fiona glanced each other with grins. He took his hat from his quills and placed it back on his head. He then held up his index finger, and watched as a black chaotic power surged from within. It circled around his hand, forming with a red energy. Both his own and Fleetway's powers were colliding perfectly. He then pushed a button to slide the window on his side down, and pointed his hand out. He aimed, and Fiona even held his arm with both hands to help him steady his shot.

They both saw some people desperately try and pump gas into their cars, while some were fighting over it. It didn't matter, though. They'd all be blown up in a second. While closing one eye, Scourge shot a beam of chaos power right at one of the gas tanks. After he nailed the shot, he sped away while laughing. With a disgruntled gasp, a Mobian looked down at the gas tank that now had a hole in it. It was smoking, and then he saw a small flame develop. His eyes shrunk in fear. He scrambled and cried for others to get away before it was too late.

But it _was_ too late.

A red, black and orange mushroom cloud boomed over the area. Their car almost lifted from the ground from the explosion. They were still close to the area, so they felt the vibrations and rumbles. And suddenly, they saw spatters of blood all over their car, and on Fiona's lap. They looked down curiously, and saw a disfigured limb in between her legs. It stained her white dress dreadfully. She slowly held it up between her fingers, and they both realized it was a severed arm. They saw flamed and burnt debris on the flesh. Fur was receding off of it as smoke filled the air. Then, Scourge slowed the car down to look behind them. There was more flaming debris and limbs not too far away. Blood was obscured by black marks of char.

Both Fiona and Scourge turned their heads to each other, and locked their eyes in shock.

... _They started to laugh._

Yes, they were laughing.

They were causing chaos, like a couple of drunk teenagers.

Fiona threw the arm away carelessly, before looking at the dashboard and finding the audio player. As she flipped through some tracks and Scourge picked up speed, she found a song that made her eyes twinkle. She started snickering louder. "Hey babe," She turned to him. "They got our song!"

"Oh yeah?" He said while looking down at the name of the track. He started giggling himself. He turned the audio up loud, and prepared to blast the music down the road. She pressed play, and they both sung the song in unison while trying not to laugh over the lyrics.

" _Whoo!_ " They cried with fists pumped up into the air. " _Aw yeah!_ " They moved their bodies to the beat in their seats. " _Rollin' around at the speed of sound! Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow~!_ " As they loudly, and terribly sung the lyrics, they continued their reign of mindless havoc. Their body count only doubled with every mile they drove.

Fiona may not have realized it since she was under his spell, but Scourge knew for sure, that they were both absolutely insane.

* * *

The hero of Mobius spit out a mixture of water, saliva and toothpaste excess. He wiped his mouth, and reached his hand over to the towel rack. He seized one and held it up to his muzzle to wipe his mouth and dry his face. He then made a long exhale, feeling his now clean and cool breath flowing into the air. He placed the towel back where he found it and walked out of the room to look for his shoes. Ah, there they were, by the foot of the bed. Stark naked, he bent down and reached for his sneakers, holding them up and checking them. He needed to give them a good shining later.

He looked over at the bed, and saw his partner who was also naked, sprawled on the mattress. He laughed to himself while putting his sneakers back down on the floor. He found his socks and gloves nearby, and proceeded to put them on. Shadow, was now currently panting as if he ran around the world a hundred times in one second. That was impossible even for them, unless they had a power up. He was sweating a little, and his body seemed restless. His legs were open, with white leading from his pelvis, to the sheets. One might ask, 'what happened'? Well, Shadow woke up with ol' morning wood, and started groping Sonic in his sleep. The hero didn't take too kindly to this, and woke up with a rude start. So, he gave Shadow what he wanted.

Violently.

He had Shadow's DNA in his mouth, so he had to clean it out before they left. He also took a shower and washed his face, now dried off. He then put on his shoes, and kicked his feet a few times to make sure they were on securely. He looked over Shadow again, and stepped over to his form. He leaned down and kissed his lips on his tan cheek. The ultimate life form groaned, reaching a hand up to his temple and slowly opening his previously closed eyes. He must have been dizzy from that blow job earlier.

"S...Shit.." He grumbled. He dragged his eyes at Sonic and growled. "You little.." He couldn't even finish his sentence.

"Heheh." Sonic chuckled. "You shouldn't have woke me up like that for ass. I mean I'm an early bird, and I don't mind foolin' around, but you kept me up all night, so I ain't get any sleep." He sat down beside him on the edge of the bed and smiled at him. "We've been messin' around ever since we first started doing stuff like this. It couldn't hurt to take a break, right?"

"...Fine.." He panted.

"Heheh. Let me know when you catch your breath, then we can head out. We'll clean up later." After he said that, he knew he'd have to take these sheets to the wash later. Thanks goodness there was a washing machine here.

After about fifteen minutes, Shadow managed to calm down from his sexual high for the time being, and cleaned himself up. He grunted and pushed himself off of the bed. Sonic, with a smug look, handed him his shoes and leaned against the bed post. He crossed his arms and waited for him to get ready. Soon, the ultimate life form secured his shoes and stood up on his feet along with his partner. He growled at him with a blush once he saw the huge smirk on his face. They both walked out of the apartment and made their way in the direction of the HQ with silence. Well, it was more of Shadow's obvious embarrassment and Sonic's snickering.

It didn't take them long to speed walk to the facility, only taking them less than a few seconds considering how close they were. They entered in with no problem from security, stating who they were and why they were here. They were more than welcomed without a good reason considering Sonic was a known hero in this world as well. They told them where Zonic was and what floor he was currently on. Usually people who requested an audience with the commander had to wait weeks before even being considered to be seen. Being a hero sure had it's perks.

They were on the elevator, standing side by side as they watched the numbers of the floors increase every few minutes. Zonic's office was on one of the upper levels. Shadow could tell Sonic was a little worried, but it wasn't evident on his face. He wasn't speculating on how it may have been his fault, or why he freaked out yesterday. He was keeping his insecurities to himself. That was both a good thing and a bad thing. He shouldn't conceal his feelings so tightly, but he couldn't lose himself either. No, perhaps he just figured out a way to balance it. Be concerned, but not too concerned.

They stepped off of the elevator and proceeded to make their way to their friend's office. Zone cops who walked by smiled and waved hello, but they still seemed a little bit sad. They could understand why. Not only was their first lieutenant general in a coma, but their secondary commander was depressed and had an emotional outburst. They both loved and honored Zonic and Zhadow to an extremely high extent, that much was obvious. They also noticed that the warden must not have been in his office right now, because they saw most of them without their main uniforms.

Sonic picked up the pace a little, and stepped in front of Z's office. He placed his hand on the knob, and held up his other gloved hand to knock on the door twice. There was a pause of silence. Sonic frowned and turned to look back at his partner. Shadow just nodded once, signaling that he was probably okay. The hero looked back at the closed door, and turned his wrist to twist the knob. He pressed forward, pushing the door open slowly. He peeked his face in first, before he fully walked in. He heard a faint, "Come in," and proceeded to walk in while motioning for Shadow to follow.

Behind his grand desk sitting in his chair, was the commander. His hands were on the desk, preoccupied doing two things. He was writing some things down in a binder, while looking over some files next to it. He sighed heavily, placed his pen down while leaning back in the chair, and dragging his ungloved hands over his face. He heard some footsteps come near his work area, making him peek his eyes through his fingers. He closed his eyes while muttering, "Hello Sonic prime, Shadow prime..." He sounded as if he just woke up from a nap. He placed his hands back down on the desk and scratched behind his quills. His eyes were red and dark, like he didn't get any hours of sleep.

"Um, hey." Sonic greeted awkwardly. Shadow stood by the desk and folded his arms over his chest. The blue Mobian twin pulled a nearby chair over to the desk and sat down closely. Enough to where his elbows could rest against the desk. "You alright?" He tilted his head, his tone lightly worrisome.

Zonic looked down at the work in front of him and nodded a couple times. "I uh..." He groaned. "Yes, I am fine. Do not concern yourself with my well being-"

"Don't even go there."

Zonic made a stifled chuckle and crossed his legs under the desk. "You're right, you're right. My apologies." He looked up from his paperwork and faced his twin. "Was there something you needed? I'm sure I can get it, whatever it is."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Z, we just wanted to see you. We don't want anything. You know better."

"Oh..Oh, oh yes of course. I don't know why I'd think that, I...Ugh.." He gripped the top of his temple. He still didn't sound like himself. That's when Shadow cleared his throat and glanced at Sonic.

"I think _this_ is why he was previously forced to go on a vacation."

"Tell me about it. Z, I think you need a lunch break."

"Lunch break?" Zonic's eyes slighty widened, as if he really wanted to leave the office and take a nap. "But it's not even noon."

"Who cares? You're like, the boss of everyone here." He cocked a smile. "And the warden's not in, right? Do what you want, take a break! No one's gonna be mad if the lieutenant general takes a breather. You're about to pass out." He put his hand on his shoulder, with a gentle expression that assured him everything would be fine. Zonic then looked over to his left, who saw Shadow looking down on him. He wasn't smiling but, he was giving the look of encouragement as well.

"...I-"

"Oh! Damn, I forgot something..!" Sonic jumped out of his chair and made his way to the entrance. He looked back behind him at the two confused hedgehogs and winked. "I'll be back real quick, okay?" He opened the door, and left in a blue streak. Zonic looked up at Shadow for an answer, while he just looked back just as confused. He just shook his head and shrugged. Sonic was always up to something, it was best to just let him do what he wanted to do for now.

"What do you do to relax?"

"To relax?" Zonic blinked, repeating that word like a foreign language. "Well," He began as he watched Shadow step in front of the desk, and push his paperwork off the surface. He caught everything in his hands and moved away to place them some where else. "I like listening to music and eating sweets. Don't tell anyone, though." The high ranking officer confessed.

"I see." Shadow moved back and sat in the seat Sonic previously sat in. He leaned back in the chair and watched the zone cop close his eyes as he put his head down. "Do you...Smoke?" He asked notably. He didn't know why, but something told him he did. Zonic lifted his head up a bit so his voice wouldn't be muffled when he replied back.

"Rarely, but yes. Do not tell Sonic prime."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if that's what you do for a quick fix. Especially if it's once in a while. Now if you were addicted, he'd be nagging you everyday." The black and red hedgehog looked to the side. "I do it myself from time to time, when I'm really stressed." He glanced at the other. "Would you like me to go get you some?"

"No, that's fine." Zonic shook his head. "Zhadow and I often smoked together whenever we had lunch. He's the one who got me into it. But, right now, it's not the same..." Shadow noticed the fond look on his face as he mentioned the comatose officer. Even though his sentence ended up sounding sad, he looked satisfied talking about him.

"You two were more than just friends, weren't you?" He suddenly asked, making the commander's eyes dilate. He then scoffed and darted his green eyes at the wall.

"It's that obvious, hm?"

"Very. After that outburst, Sonic figured that you two were a thing. No one acts like that for a simple friend. Maybe a childhood friend, close relative, or a lover." The ebony hedgehog pointed out. He wasn't trying to tease him or make fun of him. He was serious, because he wanted to understand. He didn't know why, but something was compelling him to try and understand why Zonic was feeling like this.

"Well, you're right." Zonic exhaled. "We are in a relationship. We've been dating for three years, actually." Parts of his normal frown began to curve just a tiny bit. "Right after Scourge faked his way out of the No Zone Psychiatric Ward, we ended up together. As I said before, he never noticed me until I showed more potential as an officer. But even then, he treated me like some nuisance. Like a child who was way in over his head." He admitted tenderly. That sounded a lot like yours truly. "I was the rookie, a private who always got things wrong. I screwed up during line ups, messed up in reports, stumbled over my words...I was terrible at detaining criminals, and always ended up needing help. Or beat up." He chuckled. Holy crap, a guy like him was _that_ bad at his job? Then again, every great star starts out some where, and they always start at the bottom. He must have been a novice just like everyone else. "I was physically weak, procrastinated in training, and I was terrible in target practice. Prisoners picked on me, and I was a laughing stock in patrol. But," He said with a faint sense of triumph. "Zhadow was amazing. He was the best of the best. At the time, he was only an elite, but he was still the best. He arrested more criminals than anyone else in his rank, and shot bullseyes in target practice every single time. He was experienced, he was strong and confident. He was just, so cool." His voice was airy, breathless with admiration. His eyes even glossed over with twinkling inspiration. He really loved and respected this guy.

He never thought he would hear the commander speak so, dreamily about someone. He just didn't seem like that kind of person. Sonic once told Shadow that everyone had a soft side of something. That despite how they may portray themselves, they always show mercy to something they like. In this case, this cold, hard boiled officer had a soft spot for Zhadow. A very, tender soft spot.

Zonic's mouth curled up more. "I was so jealous of him, I even hated him at one point. I always thought he was so smug, so cocky and conceited. Even though I respected him, I wanted to surpass him. And that's when I became a workaholic, and strengthened my work ethic at the cost of...Well, basically my life. I overworked myself to extremes, and soon it became a habit. Honestly, it wasn't nearly as bad as it is now." He glanced at Shadow, who looked shocked. It was worse when he was only a private? How was that even possible? "I passed out during patrols, I starved myself and I had constant migraines. I was forcibly sent home numerous times, and was even threatened to be fired if I didn't stop exhausting myself." He shrugged at Shadow's expression, which was very laughable. "One day, I nearly passed out while trying to give him a report. He escorted me home, to which I angrily refused, spouting out nonsense that I didn't need help from the likes of him."

* * *

 _"Let go of me..!" The teenager yelled, pushing himself away from the elder officer. His dark green eyes glared dangerously, even as he almost tripped over his own feet to get away. "I don't need your help! Not from someone like you! I'll be stronger than you one day, and I'll never be looked down upon ever again!" Right after he hollered the last word in his sentence, he fell forward face first. Startling the elite above him, he knelt down to Zonic and tried shaking him to wake him up. It was no use though, he passed out again. This was the third time this week._ _Zhadow had no choice but to carry him home._

 _The next morning, Zonic came back into work. As he tried organizing some files, there was a knock on his door. Normally, someone of a low rank wouldn't have an office. Because of his bloodline as an overseer, he was automatically given one when he was of age to work. People didn't normally knock on his office door, as no one associated themselves with him. He was a loser compared to everyone else, and even the rookies avoided him since he was such a screw up. Only the warden ever personally requested his time. He only got a knock whenever he was assigned a low level mission, so who could this be?_

 _He said loudly, "Come in," and continued what he was doing. Without looking up from his work, he began politely asking if there was something he needed to do. "May I help you? If there's something you need to-" He paused when he looked up from his documents. It was him, that bastard.  
_

 _Elite officer Zhadow had his arms crossed over his chest, looking down on Zonic with judging eyes. Zonic was ready to demand for him to get out, but this was a higher ranked officer. He couldn't yell curses at him like a sailor. Maybe if they were outside HQ, but he was at work right now. He couldn't be disrespectful. He bit his tongue and moved on to speak, slowly and grudgingly._

 _"Hello officer Zhadow, is there something I can help you with?" His tone was smothered in sarcasm._

 _"No." Zhadow leaned down and placed both of his hands on top of his desk. His red eyes peered through him, with an emotion that Zonic couldn't read. "But I can help you."_

 _"..I-"  
_

 _"Do not speak." He commanded harshly. "Look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you."_

 _While continuing to bite his tongue, Zonic glared directly into his face as instructed._

 _"You are an overseer. An overseer can't do his job if he's a weakling like you, but I'm willing to change that."_

 _Zonic didn't say anything as his eyes narrowed._

 _"I will take you under my wing, and train you properly. You want to be strong, to surpass me, right?" His voice became less strict, and more genuine. "Give up your arrogance, and open your mind a little."_

 _Zonic didn't understand, why was he willing to do this? He was willing to help him get stronger, to be better than him? Is this true, or was this just a joke? Then again, Zhadow didn't seem like one to make jokes or participate in pranks._

 _To actually come here and say something like this to him of all people, he couldn't have been lying, right?_

* * *

"He showed me how to shoot more efficiently, and soon I was able to get bullseyes. He helped me mature mentally and physically, acting as my personal mentor. He helped me speak more confidently, with more orderly reports. Before I knew it, I was respected and I grew in ranks. Soon, I measured up to him, and we had the same status." Right before Shadow's eyes, Zonic _smiled_. Not a small smile, not half of a grin, not a little chuckle, but a smile. A pure, honest and warm smile. He looked so happy. "I finally got what I always wanted, to be respected and honored. To be the best, and he helped me get there." He covered half of his face with his hand, probably trying to hide the blush on his face, but he failed. "As I let go of the jealousy and anger, I finally grew up. And, he softened up to me. I saw a side of him that no one else had seen before. I don't even think he realized he was capable of being soft. I easily fell in love with him, and he did the same for me. As he began to develop feelings for me, he constantly denied it, but his actions wouldn't match his denial."

The way their relationship progressed, was exactly like his own and Sonic's. They hated each other, but they began to care for each other. Then, it became love. But, just like Zhadow, Shadow denied the word 'love'. Was he just as confused as the ultimate life form was about the emotion?

Zonic continued to tell his love tale. "We both were shy, and were confused about certain things. We didn't, really understand emotions like others. Eventually however, we became a couple." He put his hand down from his face and looked Shadow in the eyes. "I'll be honest with you, if you don't mind me giving personal information."

Shadow shook his head. "No, go ahead.

"We became intimate not long after we declared we were a thing. Even though we were a couple," His smile fell quickly. "I..." He hesitated, and started his sentence over. "Like I said, we didn't understand emotions as well as others. Rather, as well as normal people."

Normal people? What was he implying? Were Zonic and Zhadow more than just No Zone inhabitants? The way he worded that didn't seem right.

Waking him up out of his inner thoughts, Zonic continued. "We didn't know how to say 'I love you'. We didn't realize how important it was to say it. Like I said, we didn't understand. S..So.." The commander closed his eyes tightly, clenching his teeth and looking away. He started trembling against his chair. He rose his hands to his face and gripped the sides of his head. "A few months ago, when I assigned him on a search party, to travel to anti-Mobius," His voice became unstable with emotions. "It was my fault, that he got hurt like that. And now he might not ever wake up." Zonic put his face down on the desk and gripped his fingers in his fur. "It was my fault, all my fault." It sounded like he was forcing himself not to cry. He was just like Sonic, bottling up his feelings even when he was breaking.

Then, Shadow started to realize the depth of this phrase 'I love you'. Was it really that important to say? To do this much emotional trauma to someone who lost the chance to say it to someone, was it really that significant? Why? Shadow knew he was supposed to say it, as he said to Maria before. But to Sonic, why did he feel obligated to say it even more? It's been so long, too long. He couldn't bring himself to say it so easily, but if he didn't and something happened to one of them, would they end up like Zonic?

Slowly, Zonic rose his head and exhaled heavily. He tried to smile again, as his eyes were slightly watering. "You never realize what you have until it's gone." He put his hands on his arms, and held his forearms. "I still have our memories, so, I'll...live somehow." He took his thumb and wiped under his eyelids. He cleared his throat, and his mundane voice returned. "So, how long have you and Sonic prime been dating?"

Shadow's pupils shrunk.

"..Err, what?"

* * *

"Hey babe?" Scourge called without looking behind him.

"Yeah baby?" Fiona replied while looking over the city with him.

"Could you turn up the volume on the car? Like, all the way?"

"Sure." She kissed his cheek and booped his nose with her finger, before turning around and walking over to their stolen car. God she was out of character. Currently, the car was parked on the roof of a now abandoned school. It was still running, of course. Scourge was standing on the edge, just like before, watching over the citizens of Mobius kill each other. He tipped his hat, and pointed his finger behind himself. It was pointed directly at the car. Fiona leaned her body inside, and moved her hand to the dashboard. She turned the volume up on the audio player to one hundred percent. "It's ready baby!" She said.

"Sweet." Scourge's eyes became red as mist danced in the skies above. His finger tips glowed a cherry color, and brightened as he closed his eyes to focus. Tracks switched at rapid speed in the car, until Fiona saw it glitch and form the words 'CLAIRE DE LUNE, VIOLIN & PIANO'. Her mouth formed into an 'o', and peeked her head out of the car to look at her king curiously. "This is my favorite song in the whole wide world," He whispered to himself as he rose his hands up and kept his eyes closed.

The audio player played, and the classical music flowed. But it didn't just boom from the car, it came from the radios all over town. Scourge moved his arms and hands as if he was a composer, a wand in his hand as he commanded the notes of beautiful music flowing into his ears.

As screams scorched the streets of Station Square, and blood splattered on windows and concrete, he smiled. This song was the epitome of nostalgia. He couldn't help humming. A soft breeze gently kissed his quills as they flowed in the wind.

Not once did he pay the sounds of murder and genocide any mind.

* * *

 **END - 18**

 **Yay! I got something out on time! Welp, we're finally getting to the point in the story where things start to really heat up. I'm super excited to get to the climax, so I'm already proof reading the next chapter, and planning how to write later chapters. Of course, I already know how this is all gonna end, but the story's nearly half-way over. _Gaaah!_ I'm so excited...!**

 **Ah...Anyway, have a nice day. And also, hold your loved ones close. There's a lot of crazy shit going on in the world lately, and too many people are acting careless. Stay safe.**

 **(Bonus time.)**

1\. Scourge loves classical and orchestral music. Sonic, cares very little for the genre, and has a taste for more upbeat genres.

2\. Sonic never had a problem with a girl screaming someone else's name during intimacy. (Of course, it was just foreplay, but it still counts.) Scourge had to hear Fiona scream Sonic's name every single time they had sex. (Just a little FYI, yes Sonic is technically Scourge's REAL name, but that's not what he goes by obviously. She would know better than that. They argued about it so many times, with her denying this and using his real name as an excuse.) This is another reason why Scourge has a resentment towards him.

3\. Sonic had not long ago discovered that he was bisexual. Scourge started fooling around with guys when he was at a younger age. He doesn't care where his penis ends up.

 **Also, something to think about before you go:**

 _There's a liar in this story, who told a huge lie._


	19. The World's Crumbling, So Eat Cake

**19 - The World's Crumbling, So Eat Cake**

* * *

"What you said before, what do you mean you both 'didn't understand emotions'?" Shadow asked with a raised brow.

The question made Zonic sigh. That was a bit of a long story. Before he got into that, he requested something of Shadow. "I'm sorry, but before we continue, would you like some coffee?"

Shadow saw the tired expression on his face. He nodded without a word, and watched the officer grab something from behind his desk. He was holding up a walkie talkie. He talked into the device, asking for a nearby soldier to carry up a tray of two freshly brewed coffees, and some random breakfast pastries.

He wanted to be done with this day, and he probably wanted to go home. He was dealing with what Sonic called 'heartbreak', if he wasn't mistaken. As they spent time together as a couple, Sonic told Shadow what such a horrid feeling felt like. It wasn't just some emotion, it was an actual physical thing that could traumatize both your mind and body for a period of time. It was worse than depression, and it was as painful as getting a hole rammed into your chest. No exaggeration either, your chest actually became a hole that felt like it's been bludgeoned by a sledgehammer, over and over. Not only that, but it could deteriorate your health. Apparently, this is something people can die from.

This is why the concept of emotions was so lost on the biohog. He knew the basics, happiness, sorrow, rage, hopelessness, exhaustion...And he was slowly understanding what 'liking' and 'strongly liking' something was. That correlated with affection, and passion. Perhaps, branches of love? But why was love so detrimental? How could emotions be so dangerous? He understood mental issues sprouting from emotions, such as madness, obsession, isolation or extreme passion. But he didn't understand why the more normal and everyday emotions, could be just as deadly, or just as important.

That's why he didn't get why it was so imperative to say it to Sonic from time to time. Hell, he didn't understand why Maria even said it to him. He only said it back to her, because he felt that it was only right. If he was able to feel that way with her without reluctance, why did he have so much difficulty saying it to Sonic? Was it because his love for him differed from his love for Maria, and the depth of their relationship wasn't as deep? Having a sibling-like bond with the girl, made him happy. But not in the same way Sonic made him happy. He knew for sure he felt affection for Maria, but not in the same way he felt affection for Sonic. He loved Maria but-

...Oh...He didn't love Sonic the same way. He loved him, on a level more than that.

He...Loved him more than he loved Maria? No, that...That couldn't be, right?

"Shadow prime? Are you okay?" He heard the commander ask.

The dark hedgehog slowly looked up to face him, and just shook his head. "I'm fine." He dismissed his concerns.

Zonic smiled a little. "I think, I know what you were just thinking about." He got up from his chair and walked over to his office door. Shadow didn't even hear them knock. Zonic opened the door and quickly thanked the soldier who delivered their beverages. He took the tray and walked passed his desk to place the tray on the little coffee table he had near the back of the room. He pulled a chair over and gestured for Shadow to join him. He did the same and sat with the commander. "I believe you also are not sure of certain emotions. You don't truly grasp what love is, right?"

"I don't." Shadow replied hopelessly. "I know I'm supposed to, but I don't understand why. And I know I'm capable of doing so, and saying so, but I just can't. I know I can, but something is holding me back. Why is that? What _is_ it?" He asked with a sense of distress.

"Simple, Shadow prime. Well, it's not that simple, as I've only just learned the meaning myself." He handed a mug of black coffee over to him, to which he quietly thanked the other. Zonic dabbed some cream and sugar in his own, which was supplied on the tray. Everyone in the facility knew their commander loved cream and sugar with his coffee, as he had a guilty pleasure of sweets. He watched his dark beverage fade into a lighter brown color. "The word 'love' is a complexity all on it's own. That's why the phrase 'I love you', is so difficult to say. It has such a strong, and heavy meaning that too many people effortlessly throw around. Love isn't a life long commitment, it isn't sexual desire, and it's not some unconditional feeling of a special bond."

"...It isn't..?" This shocked Shadow tremendously. Maybe not sexual desire, or commitment but love wasn't the feeling of a special bond?

"No. You can say I love you to a pet that's been with you for years as a loyal companion, but it's not the same. Maybe sentimental history, but that isn't the _point_ of love." He stirred his spoon in the mug, watching the added contents form and mix together perfectly. Molding into something better, sweeter. "Love is something you feel to someone who just makes you feel happy. You don't need special brands as to why you feel for them. They make you feel happy, inspired, important and serenity. That's all you need." Zonic held up his spoon and took a small taste test. Yup, that's how he liked it. "I only fell in love with Zhadow, because I got to know him. He made me feel joy. In turn, I did the same for him. Sure, him putting me under his wing may have helped, but that wasn't the initial cause as to why. I just grew to feel that way for him." He held up the mug and sipped it carefully, as the contents were hot.

"Then how do you explain the feelings for friends or family? People who don't count as your significant other."

"Family and friends have a different level of affection than partners." He said before finishing a gulp. "Family and friends can't make you feel the same way as a lover. It's just an indescribable feeling that feels entirely different. While it is a different love, it's still love at the end of the day."

He only said he loved Maria because she was someone who made him feel joy. She looked after him, and he looked after her. They were inseparable, But that was all his love could reach to, a sibling affection. For Sonic, his love reached farther. He didn't just look after him, he did other things with him that siblings couldn't do. It was all so clear to him now. He didn't love Sonic more than her, he just love him in a different way that allowed them to do things he and Maria couldn't.

Zonic was right. It was simple.

"Shadow prime," Zonic started. "I need you to do me a favor, but I need to ask something first."

"Okay."

"You didn't answer my question from before. How long have you and Sonic prime been dating?" He smirked. "It seemed as if you didn't want to confess, then you asked me something to change the direction of the conversation."

"I..." Shadow couldn't even talk his way out of that. The lieutenant general read him good. "I assure you, I genuinely wanted to understand. It's something I've been dealing with ever since we established that we were in a relationship. But, you've made it clear to me now. I finally understand, so, thank you." He said softly. He looked down at the breakfast pastries, that were nearly all gone. The hell? Did the commander eat them all? His stomach was as large as Sonic's. "We've only been dating for a few days, now. We both had developed a crush on each other, but it took us years to finally confess."

"I see. And I assume you've been intimate already." Zonic stated while wiping crumbs from his mouth.

"..." The ultimate life form's red muzzle and diversion of red bashful eyes told it all.

"Hahaha," The zone cop laughed. What a nice sound to hear. "Nothing to be shameful of. We all still have the minds of teenagers, after all. Though," He chuckled with a small blush of his own. "I'm kind of glad my monitors stopped working when they did. That is one sight I'm glad I missed."

"Y-Yeah..." Shadow mumbled. "But," He still didn't know what to do. "Still, when do I say it to him? He won't say it to me, because he's afraid of scaring me off. Actually, he did say it to me the other day. Right after we, well, you know. He said it just felt right to say it at the time. You said sexual desire doesn't define love."

"Yes, it doesn't. But at that moment in time, I can conclude that you both made each other _very_ happy." He said with a suggestive expression. Shadow realized the commander was secretly very dirty. "There's a difference between love and lust. In that instance, it was more than just you two fooling around. Sonic prime genuinely felt a pure sense of passion. That's why he said it, and why it felt right to say it. You only say it to people when the time feels right, when they've really made you happy. Even if it's for something small."

When Maria said it to Shadow, she would sometimes say it out of the blue. Was it because him just being around her made her happy? That, would make sense. And that would mean she really must have...

...Oh man, this stuff was heavy...No wonder this concept was such a damn headache.

"You don't need to say it too much, but you can't say it too little. Unless of course, he's alright with that. Sometimes it doesn't even need to be said, Shadow prime." Zonic shrugged. "Everyone is different, as every relationship is different. These are all just my opinions, after all."

"No, I think you're right." The biohog suddenly declared. "That, makes sense. I completely understand." Why was he so happy that he finally figured it out? Over something so small? No, it wasn't small. This was Sonic he was talking about. Nothing was small about him, nothing about him was insignificant. If he said it to him, it would make him ecstatic. He smiled to himself. The time would come for sure. All they had to do was wait a little longer, and he could see the most beautiful expression on his face.

That's what love was about. Making him happy.

Him being happy, made him happy. That's what Zonic was talking about, right?

Feeling a sense of pride and vicariousness through Shadow's enlightenment, Zonic's face couldn't help but brighten up. He was so glad they found each other. He hoped all counterparts of the primes found each other, just as he and Zhadow did.

 _..._

 _Zhadow..._

His coffee mug shattered on the floor.

Zonic gasped in pain and gripped a hand on his chest. His chest, his heart, it was still swelling. It hurt so damn much, he couldn't take it. He needed him, he needed-

No, he couldn't think about him right now.

"Commander!" Shadow cried. "Are you okay?"

He was starting to sweat a lot again. Shit, that wasn't good. He had to calm down. Zonic took in a few deep breaths, trying with every ounce of energy he had left to relax. As his fingers gripped his top, he still couldn't help but smile. What would that bastard say at the sight of his heartbreak for his love? He'd probably smirk, or laugh victoriously. Or, he'd frown, and maybe he'd cry in sadness. He hated to see him hurt, so maybe he would scream in rage.

Zonic laughed louder.

They cared so much for each other.

So much, that it was killing him.

"Commander, you need to rest."

 _You need to go home, rookie._

"Damn it, where the hell is faker?"

 _Do I need to call back up for you, private?_

 _Hahahaha...Hahaha..._

He kept hearing his voice, he was going insane. His green eyes, it was almost as if a clash of love and madness swarmed in his pupils. Shadow needed to call someone right now, he looked sick.

He was dying.

"Shadow prime," Zonic croaked while his eyes became half lidded. "That favor I needed to ask of you," He trailed off. At this point, Shadow was out of his chair, holding the commander just in case he fainted.

"Whatever it is, it can wait! You need to-"

"I-I, need you to..."

* * *

Clair De Lune always put him at ease.

The light of the now blood red moon that rose to the skies, made his nerves settle. He wanted to go to sleep after watching it's crimson light shine down upon the world. Scourge could only smile. How gorgeous. He twirled his favorite toy in his hand, a toy he hadn't used in so long. His signature baseball bat, with nails stuck inside it's base. The very weapon he used to kill so many people, to cause so much destruction and havoc. He'd use it just one last time before initiating the next part of his plan.

As he swung and bashed the brains of a woman, he didn't stop there. He twirled around and swung it into someone's else's face. Blood coated his outfit from head to toe, his fingers caked with the brains and skin tissue of others. He tasted some on his mouth, which was pretty foul, but he didn't pay it any mind. Some of the blood was even falling off of him, dripping like a busted pen coated in ink. This crowd was pretty big, but he'd get through it in no time. Fiona was off somewhere, killing just as he was. He lost track of her after they jumped from the roof top. That song still playing, it made him feel so serene. He didn't even care where she went. All he wanted to do was keep swinging and killing, humming to himself as he felt the hands of angels humming right with him.

Screams, screams and more screams.

Riots, riots and more riots.

Murder, murder and more murder.

Crying, sobbing and more despair.

This was true devastation. Something everyone needed to face once in a while. These people had their hero shove smiles onto their faces for too long, now. When's the last time they ever had a crisis? No, they're all fools. Taking their lives for granted, smiling and laughing in the face of the imitation of hope. As long as they had their hero everything was a-okay, right? _Wrong._

So, deadly wrong. But he'd make them all pay. All pay for acting so damn ignorant! So mindless and stupid! All imbeciles! All insolent, slow witted, empty headed sows who can't understand anything! They've never seen demolition, they've never seen horror. They're so used to their fantasy world, they don't even realize the danger that loomed over their noses the whole fucking time! Their phony fake world, soon they'd all see that kind of world can never exist! Idiots, idiots, _fucking idiots!_

...Idiots. Fools.

That's what they all were. Poor, simple fools.

As the song played, Scourge's motions slowed. He saw something. Rather, he heard something. It was screams of course, but over the screams and hollers of terrified and wrathful people, he heard something else. A cry for help, a plea of a child. It was a child's voice.

There was a child here?

Scourge put down his bat and narrowed his eyes. He held up a hand, and black energy surrounded it. Then, a large wavelength spread throughout the street. Anyone who was still alive, was now passed out on the floor. That sound, it was nearby. Around the corner of that alley, as a matter of fact.

He would find out what it is, who it could be.

* * *

"Commander please-"

"Listen," He panted. "I already lost my chance." Zonic gently pushed Shadow away, indicating that he didn't need his help, he could get through this. Shadow still refused to move, however. "Zone cops like myself aren't born, Shadow prime. Like you, I was created. Officer Zhadow was created as well. Not in a space station, but right here in No Zone." He turned his head to the side, seeing the black and red striped hedgehog's face become pale with shock. "The bloodline of overseers was created by those of your world, to watch over their bloodline. The warden knows all about that. Other high ranking officers, the veterans of this world, raised me. I was to be a soldier without emotion, without a will to live except to protect Sonic prime. They didn't want me to understand emotions like 'love' or 'joy', because that wasn't my job. My purpose was to fulfill my duties, not find happiness in life."

"What...?"

"That's why I didn't understand, at first. We both didn't. I couldn't tell him, not one time. I regret it so much, and it's destroying me." He seized Shadow's hand, holding it tightly. "Shadow prime, please. Do not make the same mistake I did." His fingers were squeezing him. He needed to be assured, he needed him to promise him this one thing. He just needed to hear him say it, he didn't want them to end up like they did. Should disaster strike either of them, he didn't want them to live with the same agonizing regret that he's fighting.

It was too painful, and it was killing him.

"Tell him. The last day of the festival, tell him at least one time." He requested. "Do this one favor for me, as a friend. And if not for me, for Sonic prime."

He wanted to hope, he wanted to believe. But he needed his doubts to be answered with certainty. He didn't want this for them. He wanted more for them. What kind of person would Shadow be if he just ignored his wishes?

He placed his other hand on top of Zonic, holding it firmly. His eyes sharpened with assurance.

"You have my word."

* * *

The orange fox jumped down from the helicopter, using namesakes to help him float down to land safely. He landed on the roof of his own house, and hopped off the side. He ran around the perimeter to the back, where his garage was. He huffed and bent down to lift up the door to it. With a grunt, he pushed it upwards and ran inside. He ran to his work table and grabbed all the transmitters he could find. He then looked over and spotted his large plane immediately. While carrying the devices, he jumped up and landed right in the pilot's seat. He placed them down by his feet, not caring if they got scattered on the aircraft's floor. He looked over his dashboard and pressed his gloved fingers on a few buttons to make some commands.

The engine started up, he was nearly ready. He heard the rumble of propellers spinning, pushing air into the wind. He strapped in his seat belt, the roof of the plane setting down to cover him from above. He gripped his hands on the control sticks, ready to fly. The aircraft moved forward, it's wings still tucked in. The entrance to the garage transformed, making a bigger opening for the plane. Lights poking from the grass and floors below guided from inside to outside in a perfect aisle. As he left the garage, the plane's wings began to extend. Once he was fully out and made it a few feet away, Tails pulled his hands at the controls. He lifted off of the ground, and the aircraft's wings extended, a hawk soaring the night.

He made it to the air, gliding flawlessly across the sky. He went even higher, nearly touching the clouds. That's more like it. He flipped the machine on auto pilot, before looking down underneath his dashboard to see his goggles. He leaned down and grabbed them, adjusting their lenses. He placed them on his head and strapped them behind his ears. He slowly placed them down on his eyes, focusing his pupils out the window. He pressed a button on his watch-looking transmitter and spoke into it. "Knuckles, I'm in the air. We'll meet up at GUN HQ."

 _"Alright, I'll meet you there. Be careful when you land that thing."_

"Same to you." The connection ended, and the fox put his hands back on the control sticks, flipping auto pilot off. _  
_

Now all he needed was for Rouge or Amy to get back to him.

* * *

That noise, that sound...

All that whimpering and crying, it was this brat?

Scourge sucked his teeth and put his hands on his bloody hips. Well, can't say that he was surprised. He had a feeling it was her. He wasn't surprised at the priceless expression on her face, either. After all, he was wearing the blood of so many people. But it wasn't just her, there were two others. He crossed his arms over his chest, his bat still in hand. Making an unimpressed glare, he looked down at the girl below him.

A rabbit, her jasper colored eyes shaking in fear. Two big floppy ears that resembled two big pigtails. A stupid orange dress, with an even stupider blue tie and white collar. She used to hang around that Amy girl. He could tell, because her dress resembled hers a little. Must have modified it to her likeness as she got older. She was crying, so many tears that he didn't care for. She was sniffing and coughing, she had a gash on her leg. There was some weird blue looking thing floating next to her. The hell was that? Some kind of fairy made out of blue pudding or something?

Oh, this was a chao. Those weird mutated looking things that fluttered around the master emerald. They were repulsive looking, and they sounded annoying. He kept hearing it cry, "Chao! Chao, chao!" He had half of mind to throw that thing through a brick wall. The rabbit girl saw the irritation on Scourge's face, so she flinched and grabbed her chao friend. She hugged him close, crawling backwards into the third person he noticed before. This other person looked similar to the girl, but she was definitely older. She had ears as big if not bigger than hers, with a nice amount of brown hair on her head. Her eyes were darker, brown.

Hey now, she was pretty cute looking. No, the hell with 'cute', she was hot.

She had some middle aged looking dress on, like she was some old lady, but her face and body surely didn't match. Her face was that of a twenty year old, and her body was scrumptiously curvaceous. She was just as curvy as that bat girl. She was packing a nice pair of tits, too. Must have been the girl's mother. Scourge sure loved him some MILFs-Wait a minute, was she dead? Scourge tilted his head and leaned forward. No, he saw her chest move up and down. She was breathing. Ah, but there was blood trickling down from her forehead. She must have gotten knocked out. Both her and this girl were slumped against the cold wall of this alleyway corner. The uproar must have gotten the better of them.

Scourge crouched down on his knees, and put down his bat beside him. He took his hat off from his head, then placed his hands between his legs. The girl closed her eyes and looked away with a sob. The green hedgehog's eyes lowered. "You're **Cream** , right?" Another friend of Sonic's.

Trembling with the chao in her arms, she nodded quickly. She still wouldn't look at him.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked pleasantly.

She nodded again, but Scourge cut her off with furrowed brows.

" _Speak_ , girl." He commanded roughly.

"Y-Yes!" She cried. "Y-Yes, I'm sorry.."

He internally groaned. He hated children. Hated them. "That your mom behind you?" He said with a lowered voice.

"Y-Yes." Another sniffle.

"And," He looked down at the blue creature, his eyes glinting red. The little chao glared daggers into him, making him scoff. It squirmed it's way out of her hands and flew up in front of Scourge's face. It shouted at him, yelling, 'chao!' this and 'chao!' that. Like he could understand the little shit. The girl protested against his actions, telling him come back to her where it was safe. "This little chao of yours?" He asked as he took his fingers and pinched the creature's head, lifting him up. He squeezed it's tiny head, making it wiggle in his hold. The girl pleaded for him to stop.

"N-No! Please give him back! That's my friend, Cheese! H-He didn't mean it, just give him back!"

"Ya know," Scourge poked his nail into the creature's cheek roughly, watching him squish like a slice of watermelon. "Where I come from, we eat chao."

"W-What...?" Her eyes decreased in size.

"Yeah. We cut 'em up and eat 'em."

She shook her head slowly. "No." She uttered.

"But not before we squish 'em like bugs," He grinned as he took both of his fists, and crushed them between the creature's face. He was gonna wring his neck like a wet towel. The chao desperately tried to reach for Cream, muffled screams echoing the block.

"No!" Cream reached her hand out to try and grab him, but it felt like something was holding her back. She looked behind herself, to see her mother Vanilla smiling at her. She was awake? She had her arms wrapped around her, but the embrace wasn't comforting. It was so tight that she couldn't breathe. Cream tried telling her mother to let go, but it was no use. Before her, she saw Vanilla's eyes turn black, laughing manically as she forced her daughter to turn and watch Scourge kill Cheese in his hands.

His fists kept pushing and pushing, crushing and crushing until his head-

"NO!"

His delicate little head...

...Smashed into mush.

She screamed with both the pain of being squeezed, and the pain of losing her childhood friend. She cried and cried until-

"Hey, what are you crying for?" The hedgehog asked with a smirk.

And, _everything was fine._

Her mother was still passed out behind her, she never put her arms around her in a bear hug. Cheese was still in her hands, asking her to calm down, wiping her tears with his tiny arms. Cream, no longer felt the air being taken out of her. She was crying, but...What just happened? Did she imagine everything? But it seemed so real. With blank, hollow eyes, she just fell limp against her mother's body. Her broken eyes were enough to make Scourge satisfied. He wouldn't kill her yet.

He stood up from the three while picking up his bat, and putting his hat back on. He turned around, walking away from them. He chuckled. He didn't hear that damn crying anymore. As he walked, he thought about what he'd do next. For the next part of his plan, he had to make a little announcement first. Cream wouldn't be the only person he'd visit.

No, he had a date with Big Blue next.

* * *

The hero sped into HQ in a blue streak. He ran inside the elevator and waited for his floor to arrive. He hummed the song of the elevator music, looking over at the bag of goodies he bought. He didn't realize it'd take him forever to get it, though. The line was so damn long, and then they took forever to make the freakin' cake. Their food seemed great, but their service was way too slow. Not to mention pricey as hell. Sonic broke in almost a thousand rings for this freaking cake. Who the hell pays that much for cake? Maybe a wedding or party, sure, but just to eat? Outrageous.

The bag looked similar to that box Zonic had on his desk the other day. The one with the ribbon. He just hoped it tasted as good as it costed. Most of all, he hoped Zonic liked it. He remembered how much he loved sweets. He bought a few other things besides the cake, just in case it wasn't as good as everyone hyped it up to be. Besides, he never got to buy his twin gifts before. He didn't mind at all. With a smile on his face, the elevator settled on the designated floor. He stepped off and walked in the direction of Zonic's office.

He was now standing in front of it, giving a few knocks on the door. After a minute, it opened. He saw that Shadow was in the doorway, he opened it for him. Sonic's smile widened. He sneaked a kiss on his lips before walking inside. As Sonic walked in, he saw Zonic wasn't at his desk, but laying his head on his coffee table instead. He looked like he was asleep, but he knew better than that. Poor guy probably had insomnia. With a sympathetic expression, Sonic came over while dragging a chair from his desk to sit next to him. He placed the pink and white plastic back on the surface of the table, looking at his twin. "Hey Z? You awake, buddy?"

"Yes." He heard him mumble. He sounded very sleepy.

"I gotcha somethin'." He grinned.

"Sonic prime, that wasn't necessary-" He began to protest groggily as held his head up and spotted the bag in front of him. He felt his swollen, scorched and battered heart throb. But, in a good way. That bag, he recognized it's colors. The brand was familiar, too. This was from that new bakery that opened up, that had really expensive cakes and pastries. Zonic was speechless.

"Look, I never buy you anything. And, I wanted to cheer you up." Sonic opened the bag and took out a few boxes. One was the slices of cake, one was a small box of chocolates, and another was a box of crepes of different fruit flavors. Shadow sat next to his rival, and smiled at his generosity. There he went, doing things for others again. "I know I missed like, nineteen birthdays, so I wanted to get you something for once."

"..B...But I never-"

"You don't need to get me anything. You're busy always watching over not just me, but other worlds. I, didn't realize how important you were to me until you told me that." He pushed the box of cake over to his twin. "You always work way too hard. You never catch a break. Neither of us do and it's no competition, but, I think you work harder than I do." He took Zonic's hand gently into his own, and placed it down on top of the box. It smelled heavenly. "I know what it's like to, feel like how your feeling right now. It's, really, really hard to get by. And it hurts, so bad. I know, but," He guided Zonic's hands to open the box. "You can't let that keep you like this. It'll kill ya, you know? So live through it," He handed him a pink plastic fork. "Cry as much as you need to," He made Zonic stab the fork into the slice. "And stuff your face until you can't eat anymore."

That's so odd. Sonic was right. Zonic was just so hungry all of a sudden. After finding out about Zhadow, he, he just kept craving things. It didn't help that he often starved himself when overworking. No, he needed this.

He'd stuff his face all day, to hell with it.

Sonic prime truly did understand.

With a sense of relief, he watched Zonic devour the slices of cake. He could see he was still holding tears back, probably because he didn't want to cry in public. But it was fine. He'd do what he needed to do when they left. Shadow looked over at Sonic with puzzlement. How did he know that was what he wanted? Of course they knew he loved sweets but, how did he know that would be the thing to help him relax?

Sonic shrugged. "I had heartbreak before, I told you. When someone gets heartbreak, they either eat a bunch or they start fasting. Z and I don't gain weight from eating a lot of food at once, so it's fine. I'd rather him be greedy than go days without eating."

A thank you, wasn't needed. He could feel his gratitude through his munching.

* * *

The girl with a mallet swung down her melee weapon down onto the ninth radio they found. Amy was sweating a bit. How many of these things were there? She swung at another, breaking it into pieces. That was at least two on this roof top. She held up the weapon and laid it against her pink shoulder. She looked over at the building a few feet away. Rouge was currently destroying the radios on that one. Amy noticed that as they destroyed them, the red looking chaos energy that drifted around began to disappear. Not by much though. Who knows how many of them were out there. They probably only added more after they left Station Square.

Damn, he had more than the city under his control. They needed to do more. Tails said it'd be adequate if they just gotten rid of the radios in the square, but would that be enough? This energy was still pretty strong. And there was another thing that still boggled her mind.

Why weren't any of them under Scourge's control?

They were exposed to the energy, so why weren't they mindless by now? As they were out, Rouge mentioned something interesting about Shadow, but she didn't quite understand it. She'd have to ask her what that was about again. She looked down at the broken bits of the radios on the shingles, and noticed something fishy. She took her hammer from her shoulder so she could lean down to look over the debris more. She tilted her head around as she adjusted her focus. She held up her hand and poked a smashed piece with her finger. Right as she touched it, a red electrical flash surged. She snatched her arm away and backed up. What the hell was that?

That wasn't just chaos energy, that was chaos...Electricity? Could it really look like that? How curious. She needed to show this to Knuckles and Tails, but Rouge needed to see it first. Maybe she'd know something about this since she hung around the ultimate life form all the time. Wind began to blow against her hair, and she looked behind her to see the bat in question. Her wings whooshed up and down, floating to slowly and softly land down beside her. Her strong perfume wafted Amy's nose, making her wrinkle her face up. Flapping her wings didn't make it any better.

"Alright, I made a few rounds in this area. When you're ready, we should go in the chopper and look for more boom boxes." She advised while dusting herself off.

Amy frowned and put a finger up to her chin. "Um, hey?"

"Hm?" The woman saw the worried look on her face. "What's wrong, honey?"

"That thing you mentioned about Shadow earlier, could you explain it again?"

The bat flagged it off with a smile. "Sure. It's not that easy to understand. The whole 'chaos energy' concept is a long rabbit hole." As she talked, she took the communication device Shadow gave her out of her bosom. "One day at work, Shadow told me he was able to figure out how to convert chaos energy into a form similar to electricity. He said he didn't perfect it, but he even figured out how to convert chaos energy into other devices, almost like hacking. That he could form that energy into actual coding, in a way. He said he could even program something if he focused correctly." As she explained, she tampered with the device, trying to get it working. Of course, it still wouldn't go through, not even with the radios destroyed. "But, that was over a month ago, and he said it wasn't easy. He said that if he tried to connect his energy with a device, it could cause damage to him if some kind of power surge interrupted the connection. I don't think he perfected it to a point where he could use it frequently."

"Oooh!" Amy exclaimed while carefully picking up the red electrified piece of the radio. Interestingly, it wasn't hurting her. It wasn't effecting her, but she had a theory as to why. "Okay, now I get it! So all these radios were programmed with chaos energy. That's why it's sparking like electricity."

"Yeah, I-" She blinked and looked over at the piece of rubbish. It was sparking red, this was what she was talking about. "Oh. Oh my." She poked at it herself, but it didn't harm her.

"Do you think that, maybe these were only programmed to target normal townspeople?"

Rouge squinted her mascaraed eyes. "What do you mean, hun?"

"Like, you notice how none of us are affected even though we're exposed to this weird stuff? What if Scourge, I dunno, programmed it to only affect civilians? Like maybe if a police officer came up here, or the owner of this house climbed up to the roof to turn it off. They might be affected the minute they step outside, or would get shocked from the sparks even if they made it to the radio." She rubbed at her head with her knuckles, as her hand was still holding her mallet. "I mean, I don't know for sure. Like you said, the whole chaos thing is freaky and confusing."

"Actually," The woman pursed her lips, making a face of deep thought. "That, makes a lot of sense if you think about it." She snapped her finger with a gasp of revelation. "That fox boy is a genius!" She suddenly cried.

"Huh?" Amy pouted. Wasn't she the one who figured this out? Why was she talking about Tails?

"That friend of yours is a little Einstein! So that was his plan all along." She put her hands on her hips while smirking. "That green brat's got control over everything because of that weird power he's got. Fox boy already understands how it works, and how to interfere with it. If he takes it down successfully, which he probably will, it won't just shut down his control over the city, it might even kill him in cold blood."

"W-What!?" The girl winced at her sadistically eager tone. "Tails wouldn't do that! How would he even know that would happen?"

"Well, like I said, your friend's a smart boy and he catches onto things quickly. I'm sure he knows what'll happen, should he take that route. But he probably knows that it might not kill him at all." She shrugged, putting her communication device back where it belonged. "Who knows, it might just knock him out. But there is a good chance it'll do _some_ kind of damage to him." She sneered while cracking her knuckles in her fists. "That little bastard is strong, very strong, but any amount damage is good enough if it'll bring us closer to taking him down. I don't particularly mind getting my hands dirty either, should it come to that." She then softened her expression while flipping some of her white hair over her shoulder. "But, that's what shrews say, and I'm a lady. We'll just have to see what happens." She glanced over at Amy who still seemed a bit doubtful.

"I don't know, what if-what if something even worse happens when Tails shuts everything down?" She bit her lip. "I got a bad feeling about this."

"Even if it does, sweetheart," She said nicely. "You kids are a lot more competent than you're given credit for. Even knucklehead." She closed her eyes, thinking about the two boys who left them days ago. They were still out there, fighting for them. Trying their best to find a way to either come back, or find a way to beat Scourge. They put their trust in them to protect the city while they were gone, and they couldn't falter now. "Even if things get so much worse, as worse as the Perfect Chaos incident," She started naming more. "The Eclipse Cannon, Black Doom's Comet, or the world shattering into separate pieces," Despite all they've been through, it didn't matter. She opened her blue eyes, meeting Amy's green. "It doesn't matter. Sonic or no Sonic, ultimate life form or no ultimate life form, you all come out on top every single time. I'm not gonna start doubting you now."

Amy was at a lost for words. The bat never talked so kindly about them before. What's gotten into her? Maybe, maybe she was scared too. Maybe she was starting to get hopeless, until she realized Tails' plans.

"That fox boy really is a chip off the old block, only he's not in Big Blue's shadow anymore." She turned around and folded her arms underneath her breasts, looking over at the now destroyed city. "Just like him, he took control of the situation, and he's persistent on winning." She sighed. "Scourge turning green is my fault, and he wouldn't be as powerful as he is now if it wasn't for me. Damn it, I was so, stupid and careless then..!" She hissed at herself. "Maybe, none of this would have happened. Maybe we wouldn't have a damn body count."

The pink girl lowered her eyes. She was guilty, that's what it was. In a way, she was confessing her sins.

"We've never lost so many people before, in such little time." She dragged her hand over her face and grimaced. "It's in the past now, but how long can I keep saying that? Heh," She laughed. "So this is what Mr. Sunshine felt like, huh? All this guilt and regret, confessing to you kids like I'm the one who committed a crime," She shook her head. "This isn't me. Not at all."

The pink hedgehog waved her hand, making her hammer despawn and disappear. She stood by the bat, side by side, looking over the results of someone's mistakes. "Well, none of us are acting like ourselves. Not even Sonic. Before he left, he was sad and angry. He's never like that." She put her hands behind her back. "Sonic could have killed him, ya know? But, he doesn't kill. He won't ever kill. Honestly though," She clenched her teeth and stiffened up. "Maybe he should have did it, so he wouldn't come back." She covered her face with both hands. "Why would I think like that? Killing is wrong but, b-but," She sniffed, faintly hearing the cries and pleas for help of the citizens down below. She couldn't help it, her tears were slipping out of her eyes. "I hate him, I hate him so much. He hurt so many people, just to hurt us, just to hurt Sonic. No one deserves this!" She shouted.

Rouge, now dejected, watched the girl beside her cry.

"I don't know where Cream is, and I'm so worried...But not even just her. All of our friends. The Chaotix, Ms. Vanilla, Cheese...They're all in danger. They all might die, just because someone wants to hurt Sonic." She never understood why villains always had to make everyone but the hero pay for their vengeance. "Sometimes, I hate Sonic, too."

"..Wha..?" Rouge barely whispered in shock.

"I-I don't mean it like that, I just," She sniffled. Wrong choice of words. "I hate that he's a hero sometimes. 'Cause if it wasn't for him, bad guys wouldn't always try to hurt everyone else. I don't want him to get hurt either though, I don't want anyone to get hurt!" She sobbed. She felt Rouge's hand grab her shoulder, a tight hold that almost hurt. The look on her face didn't look very pleased. Amy knew why. What she said was selfish, and ungrateful. "..Sorry." She mumbled while looking down.

The bat eased her hand off and continued to look her in the eyes. "It is not Sonic's fault that people want to kill him and see him suffer by hurting his friends. It's no one's fault. That's what bad guys do, they hurt what's precious to their target. In this case, it's the world." She herself felt as if she was speaking with doubt. "That boy loves this world. He loves everyone in it, even the villains. In my opinion, he's a damn idiot for that," She looked to the side. "But at the same time, he's so pure, I can't even hate him for it. No matter what, Big Blue only wants what's best for everyone. Even if it's at the cost of his own downfall. I hate people like that too, but the blame can't always be pinned on him." She tightened her hands into balled up fists. "Like I said, I don't like body counts, but if we have to end the life of one brat in order to fix the world," She scoffed with bitterness, her eyes glaring into shingles of the roof. "Then so be it."

The girl wiped her eyes of her tears, just shaking her head. As much as she hated to admit it, Rouge was absolutely right. Maybe they really couldn't play mister nice guy this time around. People were dying, hundreds of them at a time. The person who did all this couldn't get away scott free, and then attempt to do it again in the future. No, they had to do the one thing Sonic promised to never do. This time, he'd have to break that promise. All in the sake of saving the world.

"I just," Amy tried to say. "I just feel so-"

"Empty?"

"Yeah." She replied, but then her eyes started to get smaller. She slowly turned to Rouge, who turned to her at the same time. That, wasn't her voice, was it? The bat just shook her head.

"I...I didn't say that."

"Oh no." The ladies swiftly turned around, their fighting stances ready. Amy swung her hand out, a hammer spawning in her palm.

The green hedgehog appeared before them, walking across the roof as if he owned it. He tipped his hat over to them with a smile, holding up his bloody baseball bat against his shoulder blade. He crossed his arms and eyed the both of them with an amused look on his face. He started laughing under his breath. They were shocked at his corpse-like appearance. Amy scowled and prepared to swing her mallet.

"What's so funny!?"

"Oh I'll tell ya what's so funny you ugly, guzzling, pink cum dumpster," She growled at his insult. "You two." He retorted. "So you figured out how my radios work, good for you." He laughed a little harder while holding his hands up in the air in a big, over exaggerated shrug. "And? Whoopty-freakin'-doo." He took a few steps closer, making the two girls back away instantly. "I don't give a fuck if your stupid fox kid shuts everything down. Everything you say is exactly right. He'll win the satellites and networks back, but it don't matter." He boasted. "Say he's successful, which he probably will be," He said while winking at Rouge, copying what she said earlier. "Being severed from the connection will hurt me pretty bad. Might give me a stomach ache, some migraines. It won't kill me, but I'll be fixed with some pretty bad boo-boos." He admitted sarcastically. "But guess what? I don't care, because I won't be around when he does it anyway."

"What?" The Mobian females nearly gasped. He was leaving again? No, no it couldn't be. It couldn't be another-

"This was just another phase of the plan."

Another phase...? Another...Another phase of the...All these people dying, all the murders and killing...It was just...

Rouge gritted her teeth while Amy dropped to her knees. No, it can't be. Just another phase? There was more? Even more? What else could he do that was worse than this? What?! What more could he do to this world!? It was already dying! How much more damage did it have to take until he was satisfied!?

"My power is so strong, that's it's interfering with Blue's ability to warp here. Not only that, but it's also fucking with the connection to the device in your big ol' titties there." He made an 'oh well!' look on his face. "Blue and Stripes ain't comin' back here for a while. Even if your fox friend destroys what I've built, they still won't come to your rescue." He held one of his hands up in the air, a small golden ring appearing in his hand. It sparkled gorgeously, but it's beauty was tainted with a black oozing energy surrounding it. "I'm gonna warp right on back to where they are, and give 'em a good fight. Won't be the finale, but it'll be a doozy, I'll tell ya that. The fight'll probably take a while, not counting the amount of time that passes when you warp to another place. So, it might take a day in your time. Hopefully you guys can make it until then, if he beats me before the final showdown." The grin on his face widened to his cheeks. "But just like you said," He added with a low, creepy tone.

The fur on Rouge's neck was standing up.

"If he plays that pacifist act again, if he doesn't gather the balls to kill me," His voice was rising with every word.

His legs moved closer, making Rouge back away while bending down to grab Amy's arm.

"I'll be forced to pull out my trump card, and become the final boss. I'll get all big, scary and mean lookin', just like in those action games! Or in all the other shitty ass games he's been throwin' out these past couple of years." He was speaking so excitedly, like a child running downstairs to the tree on Christmas day.

"...Why..?" Amy whispered pathetically.

Scourge was now only a few inches away from the two girls. Their feet were tipping off the ledge of the roof. Rouge's heels were slipping off, and she barely had a good hold on Amy. He pouted at Amy's whiny, annoying pleading voice. In turn, his puffed his cheeks up while making an innocent expression.

" _Caaauuuse!_ I already told you, you big ol' stupidhead," He insulted while placing both his hands on the handle of his weapon. His expression changed, void of any playful act or emotion. His face was the raw image of someone who was done with playing games. His eyes were sunken in dreadfully, with his pupils as tiny as the period of a sentence. His muzzle was scrunched up, while he glared swords into them. His voice alone, crept the feeling of horror in their hearts. "This was _all just foreshadowing._ "

Before she knew it, Scourge whipped his baseball bat into Rouge's head. Blood flew onto his face as he cackled. She fell backwards, she didn't even scream. Her hand was still grasped on Amy's arm, pulling her down along with her. Amy screamed, her hand reaching up at him as he watched them fall. Her mallet was falling with them. They both plummeted, until he could no longer see them in the dark abyss of the streets.

He heard a heavy thud.

Yup, they were down.

...Tch, 'why'? why was he doing this? They still didn't get it.

That's fine. They'd understand soon enough.

* * *

 **END - 19**

 **"...All just foreshadowing."**

 **I wanted to write Rouge's and Amy's dialogue to show just how serious and detrimental the condition of Sonic's world is. While finding a sense of companionship, I wanted them to basically say, "Hey, this isn't gonna go down like in the games where Sonic lets the bad guy go and every's thing all peachy." No. Just, no. People don't die in Sonic games (I don't count the Shadow the Hedgehog game of course), and there's barely been any deaths in the comics. (Barely. There's been a few, but I can practically count them on one hand.)**

 **It's just like Scourge says. If Sonic doesn't have the balls to kill him this time, he'll regret it.**

 **Scourge planned so many layers to this, you have no idea.**

 **I'll say this. Buckle yourself in, 'cause this story ain't gonna end pretty.**

 **Nothing will _ever_ be the same again.**

 **Alright enough cryptic crap, let's get to the bonus time!**

1\. Scourge uses a nailed baseball bat as a melee weapon. This is somewhat cannon for the comic, as the anti-Sonic (When Scourge was still blue) used a spiked baseball bat or club. Sonic for that matter doesn't use any weapons, only using his fists most of the time to fight.

2\. Scourge's chaos abilities are more advanced than both Sonic's and Shadow's. So much so that he's mastered the ability to configure chaos energy into electricity and code.

3\. Scourge could be considered either a sociopath, or a God damn psychopath. Sonic obviously isn't either. Or rather, _he tries not to be..._

 **Another little notice. In a few minutes, something weird will be posted in the story as a chapter. You can read it if you want, or you can ignore it and wait for the next chapter next week.**

 **Anyway, have a wonderful night.**


	20. why is this here?

_\- Have No Regrets (?) -_

* * *

 **1 (?) - HEALNORMS (?)**

* * *

 _December 1st, (?)_

 _So this is my diary, hm? Geez, why do I have to write in this like a girl? Oh well, maybe it'll be therapeutic. After all, I need it. Ah, maybe I can write some poetry in here. Or some cool stories. I'll test myself as an author, a famed writer._

 _That's my dream, after all._

 _A world renowned genius of literature, mechanics, politics and more._

 _Soon, I will take on the world._

 _Soon, the world will know who I am, and love me._

* * *

 _January 15th, (?)_

 _ **Like Him**_

 _I like to run._

 _I like to run really fast._

 _I'm blue, and I have peach arms too._

 _I'm just like him, and he always won._

 _I'm just like him, but I'm always last._

 _If I write, read, talk and create things better than he can, than what am I really?_

 _If he can run, jump, fight and save people better than I can, is that why I can't live freely?_

 _Everyone loves him, almost nobody hates him._

 _I love him too, even though I'm always blue._

 _Maybe I can make someone like him, in my notebooks with a new story._

 _If I play my cards right, perhaps I too can achieve sweet glory._

 _...Too bad this can't be reality._

* * *

 _February 27th, (?)_

 _ **Red Paintings**_

 _There are red paintings all over._

 _Some are blue, some are purple, or old brown._

 _But red always comes first._

 _First, you take your hand, and put it in a bucket full of red paint._

 _Then, you raise your arm and swing it around._

 _Doesn't matter where you aim,_

 _...So long as you hit me._

 _Ah, now my body is as beautiful as the The Last Supper!_

 _So many greens, so many yellows and purples and oranges._

 _So many blues, old browns and reds._

 _But it looks like you made one big mistake._

 _You missed a spot._

 _My white, blank heart._

 _You've been playing as 'it', one too many times with that paintbrush._

 _And you never finish the damn canvas._

 _You idiot._

 _You monster._

 _Why don't you finish it already?_

 _...Guess it doesn't matter now._

 _'Cause now it's my turn, and you can't stop me._

 _We play by my rules, and I shall ban you from my art room._

 _I'll do it all by myself._

 _Finish it all by myself._

 _This time, I'll paint myself black and blue._

 _But it won't be with a brush, or a fist._

 _Or with a leg, or a finger or a knee._

 _It'll be with something silver and sharp._

 _Soon, I'll fill up the tub with red paint._

 _But first, I must dip._

* * *

 _March 27th (?)_

 _ **Garbage Garbage Garbage!**_

 _So much trash._

 _Ah geez, it's everywhere! Too much to clean._

 _I can barely breath, it stinks so bad._

 _These vitamins, these colorful fruits and green veggies._

 _If you have a lot of trash, you need plastic bags._

 _Plastic bags made of purging._

 _It's real simple! A few easy steps._

 _Take two fingers, and shove it down your throat._

 _Poof! Just like that, all this nasty trash is gone._

 _The old food that barely digested, and the drop of water you had a week ago._

 _You don't need things like that in your body._

 _You look ugly._

 _He says so._

 _And I think they say so too, if you could hear them._

 _But you can't, because you're too damn full of yourself. Aren't you, you pig?_

 _You better listen to mister mirror. Mister mirror knows all._

 _...That's what I would say, if any of this was self taught._

 _You didn't learn this on your own, your body did._

 _I mean, you've been punched there so many times._

 _It's so hard to keep food down, now._

 _It's almost like being pregnant._

 _You're hungry, but it never wants to stay in._

 _It rejects everything._

 _You can never keep the trash._

 _The trash that makes you happy, that makes your tummy happy._

 _But no, your guts are too screwed up to collect trash._

 _Oh well._

 _Maybe you can eat in another life._

 _You know, the one that isn't this one._

* * *

 _April 9th (?)_

 _ **My first attempt.**_

 _I failed._

 _After all that planning two months ago, I failed. I was really going to do it._

 _Damn it..._

* * *

 _May 16th (?)_

 _ **Second attempt: Similar results.**_

 _I failed again._

 _God fucking damn it, why can't I get it right!?_

 _And why do I keep healing so damn fast?!_

* * *

 _ **June 23th** (?)_

 _I haven't written a poem in forever. Oh well, here goes nothing._

 _ **Whoever You Are, I Hate You**_

 _Whoever they are, make worlds._

 _Whoever they are, make universes._

 _Whoever they are, can make people._

 _Whoever they are, can destroy people._

 _Whoever they are, are able to curse people._

 _Whoever they are, are able to bless people._

 _Whoever they are, cursed me and blessed him._

 _Whoever they are, made me sick and made him healthy._

 _Whoever they are, made my life sad, and made his life happy._

 _Whoever they are, can be very sadistic and twisted. But can also be nice and gentle._

 _So like my words, that now form a slope of hopelessness, I say to you,_

 _Whoever you are:_

 _I hate you._

 _I. Hate. You._

 _You made a world of happiness, and a world of sadness. Why do I have to live in the latter?_

 _Why does he get to be loved, and I, hated?_

 _Why do you keep me alive?_

 _Why do so many people take their lives for granted?_

 _Why must I fight to find any sort of value for mine?_

 _I- Shit._

 _Damn it, I can't continue. He's banging on my door right now. He wants something. The hell does he want now? Probably this stupid speech. I thought the ruler had to write it himself. Whatever, like I care. I'm not even done. Maybe I can jot down a few more words and let him do whatever he wants._

 _..._

 _Alright, that's all he wanted._

 _Now I can go back to what I was doing._

 _He was way too merciful this time. Maybe he'll come back at night and do something to me. I'll just pretend to sleep or hide somewhere. Wait, I hear footsteps. Damn it, he's coming back!_

 _..._

 _I'm, being rewarded?_

 _He's letting me eat? He's letting me go outside? He was actually proud of me! Oh my God, I...I don't know how to feel about this! Maybe, maybe my view of life was all wrong. Maybe, maybe he's not a bad person. Maybe he really does...I, I can't help but feel happy. I've never been happy before! I should go out and do something! Maybe I can sit in a park or watch the sunset._

 _Yeah! That's what I'll do!_

 _Today is mine!_

 _This world is mine!_

* * *

 **END - ?**

 **"Healnorms."**

 **Healing is normal.**

 **Don't forget to read chapter 19 first.**


	21. Cryptic Reasons

**Warning, slight lemon.**

 **20 - Cryptic Reasons**

* * *

It didn't take him long to find a good quiet place to make his announcement. There were a lot of dead people on the ground but, oh well. Not his problem. He took out his smart phone and pressed the power button to check the time. It was three minutes until midnight. The blood moon that shined down upon the globe, matched his malicious intentions. He would make this speech as meaningful as possible, perhaps in a way that people could finally understand. Even if not the whole world, maybe a few smart people would finally get why he was doing this. The green hedgehog sighed to himself, putting a hand over his face.

He _knew_ he was a bastard.

He _knew_ he was ending the lives of others.

He _knew_ how much of destruction and misery he was causing.

He _knew_ he was scarring a world, with damage that would probably stay with everyone forever.

But then he smiled.

All of this despair, this horrendous tragedy that would stain the planet with the ink of hopelessness...It didn't matter. He had to do this. He had to show this world the mistake it's been making for years to come. To show them how arrogant and ignorant they are. How false their beliefs in their hero were. What he was doing was way beyond the levels of just 'wrong', but he _had_ to do this. It wasn't right. This, was true justice. He'd show them all the light they've been ignoring, the light they've been forcing themselves to look away from in their perfect fantasy world.

He'd burn in hell for all the sins he's made in his short life, but he was okay with that. He lived his life in constant pain, taking beatings from more people than he can remember. One of whom was supposed to protect him and raise him. All the failed attempts he's made were for naught, earning more pain. Falling and landing on the car, slices of skin peeling off of his fur all over just to fill up the tub with red, or emptying his organs so that his body would shrivel up and finally pass. Not to mention the cord tied to the ceiling, attempting to make his body into a pendulum, but that was a consequence from No Zone, as well as many others.

He's faced death so many times, but the world never allowed him to die. All he was allowed to do was suffer, and realize the true meaning of emptiness. The meaning of agony, and pain. Why does this world deserve a golden blue star, who lets everyone live happy and peaceful lives? Why was this world cursed with the illusion of perfection, while his world was cursed with the reality of war and horror?

Why did he deserve to be an **anti** , and why did Sonic deserve to be the **prime**?

Why was he born, to be ultimately weaker, to be ultimately burdened with the curse of definite unhappiness?

...No.

His world would pay dearly for their foolishness.

Scourge just scoffed and ripped the cap from his head. This stupid costume served it's purpose. He set the phone down on the ground, preparing himself to strip. He tore off the fabric of his top, letting it fly away in the weak wind. He didn't wear pants, so he didn't have to worry about that. He crouched down and untied his shoes. He almost smiled. He remembered how many times he wore these kinds of shoes around his home. He tossed them away into the streets. He was now nude, in the midst of Twinkle Park. He managed to find his way back here. The car he had parked on a roof in this area somewhere, was silent. He turned off Clair De Lune a while ago.

With a steady breath, he watched as red aura mystified against his body. Clothes formed on his torso, his signature leather jacket with the silver zippers. His black boots he loved to wear. He looked down at the hand his ex girlfriend painted, his black coated nails.

This was an outfit that, really didn't express who he was at all.

So it was perfect.

Being something he wasn't, was the epitome of his persona, and he was okay with that. It, somewhat made him unique in his eyes.

He leaned down to pick his phone back up, and turned it on. With some whirring of his finger tips, he found the app he was looking for. His eyes turned red instantly, making his phone shake with red electricity. Ah, there we go. He watched as the screen changed, with the words LIVE in caps on it. An icon of a globe was animated to constantly turn three sixty degrees, indicating this would be shown all around the world. Dots appeared on the globe, letting him know that his power reached in other countries at this point. Just barely, but it did. That meant people weren't just dying in Station Square, but outside of the country. He grinned. That's exactly what he wanted. The feed from his phone was being shot all around, now. To any device that was still operating, he was now seen.

He cleared his throat and prepared to speak. He was a king now, he had to get used to making speeches.

"Heeelllooooo people of Mobius prime!" He started off gleefully. "Boy, I had a swell ol' time! That killing game was pretty fun, but I'm not gonna stick around to keep playing. I mean, my buddies might stay, but I got places to be. I'm a busy man, after all." He said smugly. The smug look on his face, couldn't stay, however. His smirk was fading, and nothing but the flat line of a disappointed scowl stayed instead. He was done with joking around. He focused his blue eyes into the phone's screen, narrowing them. "As I walked through the crowds of Mobians senselessly killing each other, I often hear someone scream, 'Why?'"

His face began to turn sour.

"And I think to myself," He paused, clenching his teeth angrily. "Why?" He seethed. " _Why?_ Why am I doing this? Why are people killing their friends and families in the streets? Why did I suddenly show up and ruin everyone's day? Why I came here in the first place?" He tried to keep his composure, leveling down his rising voice. "I came here to your world, to deliver a truth. A truth that you all so blatantly shy away from. What you all believe in, it's all just a lie. The society that you all live in, is something I like to call, a 'bubble'." He held up his hand, his palm open. Red and black energy formed around, manipulating and forming itself into an object. Soon, the object in his hand was a sturdy looking oval-like bubble, with a city trapped inside of it. "This, is all of you." He poked his gloveless finger into the surface of the bubble. It refused to pop as he moved the phone screen in front of his hand so everyone could see.

The bubble looked almost like a strong plastic, while the city stood perfectly inside. It didn't even move or shake.

"See how perfect this world is? How the buildings never move or fall over, how no one gets hurt inside of it? No matter what, even if I crushed my fingers into this bubble, everyone would be fine." His fingers then closed around the bubble, pressing into it harshly. "But, it's just a bubble. A fragile, weak bubble that should be able to pop easily. That's how the world is. Nothing can flee from an inevitable fate. But thanks to your hero, you think nothing can hurt you." He growled. "You think nothing can go wrong, and you think nothing can affect you so long as he's there to rescue you. In all of Sonic the Hedgehog's years of hero work, he's had a number of less than half a dozen casualties, and that's including all of Doctor Eggman's schemes." He crushed the bubble in his hand, watching red and black mist float above. "That in itself, is a fantasy."

The red moon, was starting to turn darker. He turned the phone back to him.

"You can't live in a fantasy world, that's just impossible. No matter how well protected you think you are, that isn't the truth. But you all believe in his words, and trust in his actions because you hide behind his back. 'Oh he'll save us all! He's the hero of Mobius, we'll be okay! We won't ever have to worry about anything, ever.' That way of thinking, is so idiotic and gutless..." He laughed with a cold tone. "You all really don't get it? What hopelessness is? What tragedy is? You all just, wait for your hero to clean up everything for you? You think nothing can penetrate the bubble you call a utopia? You think something like that actually exists? You really believe in a truth _that_ weak!?" He yelled aggressively. "You really," He just continued to laugh. "...Think life is that easy? And you think you all deserve life to be that easy? You think it's realistic for life to be that easy? Without hardship? Without death? Without mourning? Without sadness, betrayal, or insanity? Well my friends," He shook his head. "I'm afraid, I'm here to teach you all a lesson."

He sucked in a deep breath, carefully using his voice to deliver the final point of his speech.

"I'm here to show you, what true evil really is."

* * *

The fox made of a sound of distaste at the green hedgehog's words. Before he knew it, his wrist watch-like communicator glitched and began speaking. It was Scourge's voice no doubt. He was giving another message. And from the sounds of it, he wasn't too happy. The boy just sat back as his plane traveled to GUN HQ, and leaned back in his chair.

 _"I ain't Eggman, I ain't no Black Doom, I ain't no Dark Gaia, I ain't Project Shadow...I'm not Mephiles, I'm not Metal Sonic, and I'm no Perfect Chaos. Your hero isn't here to save you this time. And even when he comes back, it'll be too late. Your world'll be doomed by then. Even if he ends up beating me, it won't matter. He won't save all of you. He won't rescue every single one of you. He won't make a miracle happen this time. You've enjoyed the brunch of mercy for far too long, and it's time for a new dish. You all need a taste of what it's like to live in a barren world of hate, and death. Then when everything is said and done, we'll see just how selfish you all are then. I guarantee, you'll never take your lives for granted again."_

Tails couldn't help but gulp. He never heard him speak so callously like that before. It felt like he wasn't really talking to the people, but more to Sonic's friends. He, really meant business this time. He wasn't acting all cocky and mischievous, he was serious. Unlike all of the enemies he named, he was the only villain to ever cause such substantial damage to Mobius.

He really was the most evil person they've ever had to fight against.

But what the hell did that all mean? They were all taking their lives for granted? They were all being selfish and phony? That wasn't the case at all! What kind of stupid reason is that for destroying a planet?! That wasn't fair! He was wrong! Sonic didn't make them all prone to being used to a perfect life. Okay, so maybe he did save the world several times without damage he couldn't fix. That didn't mean they lived in some kind of indestructible cubicle of peace. What was his problem? Was he jealous of them or something? Jealous that his world was a wasteland, and there's wasn't? Tch, that wasn't anyone's fault! Why should they have to pay the ultimate price for living better lives than he did?

...

Then again...

..Maybe...He's right, in a way. Maybe they have been a little too dependent on Sonic. Maybe they did need a taste of reality to slap their taste buds. They couldn't joke around while confidently talking down to their enemy this time. They had to deal with the fact that they lost so many lives of men, women and children alike. It's a shame that the lesson he was trying to teach, had a deadly truth to it.

They...Would never gain back what they lost, here.

 _"I'll take my leave for now. You all keep trying to survive while I pay a visit to the 'God' you all worship so much. We'll see if Sonic can make it back in time to save at least one person from death, if he doesn't die to me first. Godspeed, you ignorant fucks. Sayonara~"_

The transmission ended.

All Tails could do was bite his lip and push his hands on the control sticks further to move the aircraft faster.

* * *

Sonic felt something throb against his head, and he cried out in pain.

 _...T H e y..._

Who was..?

 _... D YiN G..._

That voice was-

 _...he IS a liE..._

 _YoUMUSZSTTfuuuZSSE 56^^TOge6th-WHHm333_

* * *

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _C̨̡̖̼̙͔͚̠̻̻̳̳͙̣͛̏̊ͤͭ͑ͫͩ̍́͆ͩ̊̚̚̕͟ͅá̈͊̑ͯͮ̏͊̓͑҉҉҉͓̝͍̖̝͍̲̜͇̯͓̪̬̗͈̼ͅl̮̪̳̦̟̅̐̾̃͂͒̀̈́̓̕͠l̸̡͖͈̟̳͓̼̦͕̪̯̼͎͎̉̾̓͋̇̇̂̇̄̓̓̒̔̃̑́̚͘͝ ̗̙̠̯̻̜̥̾͑ͦ͂̊ͮ̚̚͢͟t͖͇̱̣͖̱̫̱͚͉̜̉̍͗̒ͭ̓̚͞o̡̡͕̟̞͔̰͓̫͎̼̳͓̺̦̟̪̤̦͇ͤͭ̓̕͟ ̷̸̡̮̣̥̯͙̳̭̪̟̣̯́̆̃̃ͪ͐́͛̂͊̀̕m̸̛͓̖̲͖̫͛̊̐̀̃ͮ͡é̷ͬͥ̄̿̄ͣͦͪ͒̂ͤ̉̉̃̔̈ͮ͏̮̭̞̗̠̯͓̻͕̪̗̙̕.̷̧̱͙͚͙̳͖́ͥͧ̀̒͂̈́͑ͮ́̔͛͡͡ ̶̀́̔̀҉̧̨̡̻̹̝̜̻͔̳̯͇͈͓͍̙̺̞̳̼̭̗Y̰͕͙̹̖ͯ̋̊̉ͨ̒̐͛͆̌́ͥ̓̌́̇ͣ̌̕͜͢_

 _..._

 _..._

* * *

"Ahh!" Sonic grabbed at his chest, holding where his heart throbbed. He huffed in rapid breaths over and over, trying to get himself to breathe normally. His head was killing him, someone was trying to speak. He knew who it was, but he couldn't make out their name. It felt like some ancient language that was native to him, but foreign at the same time. Like he could understand, but he couldn't speak it. His blue ears flattened in response to his now swelling head.

The sound of footsteps rushing to the room caught his attention. While still holding his head, he looked up to see Shadow rush into the room. His hand was glowing crimson. He was ready to use some chaos energy. His eyes immediately landed on the hero, who just stared back awkwardly. He started to smile sheepishly while waving his hand to say hello at his, sudden arrival. "Uh, hey." He chuckled. Shadow continued to stare at him.

"You screamed."

"I...Yeah I did. Sorry."

He sighed. "What was it, a nightmare?"

"No, I was awake. It just, happened. It was, it was-" How could he even explain? What _was_ that exactly? He new it was a voice of some kind, but it sounded corrupted, like something was purposely blocking whoever was trying to talk to him. Something, or someone was stopping whoever that was from speaking to him. Whatever they wanted to say, it felt important. Could it have been _them_? With all this Scourge madness going on, maybe _they_ were trying to warn him. Damn it, he wished he could find a way to connect with _them_ some how, or maybe get in touch with his friends so he could understand what was happening. Something felt wrong, like something really bad happened. "Shadow," Sonic suddenly said. "I think something bad happened back in Mobius."

"Bad?" He paused at his words. With a doubtful expression, the biohog shut off his energy and walked over to the bed to sit next to the hero. "Rouge still hasn't contacted me yet, perhaps something did happen."

"Shit," The blue one cursed. "It might be Scourge."

He was right, that was probably the reason why she hadn't tried to contact him yet, because she couldn't. It's been days, and he knew she would have tried to see if they were alright by now. He had to have done something back in Mobius prime to mess up their communications. Still, while they had them deep in thought, they couldn't worry themselves to death over them. They were strong, and they would be alright on their own. It wouldn't be long, Scourge would show his face and they'd finally take him down once and for all. In fact, turning super would even the odds, despite Miles' warning. With the No Zone army on their side and the chaos emeralds, they could stand up to him-

What the...?! Why-?

"H-Hey," Sonic fidgeted. "Does something feel off to you?" He asked with an increasingly anxious voice. Shadow felt something, he was right. Something didn't feel right.

"Yeah. Something inside..." He trailed off. What was it that wasn't right? It felt like something inside of their bodies just shut down, something important. Not their organs or the health, but something else. Like their power, suddenly got significantly weaker. Sonic's lime green eyes widened in exasperation. Damn it, why now of all times?!

"I can feel it," Sonic whispered. "My Super form is disappearing..!" He cried. He suddenly felt another throb at his already aching head. "D-Damn it!" He uttered as he felt blood rushing into his brain again.

* * *

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _T̷̫͈̞͈̥͙̪̹̼̥̟̜̖͔͉̊ͭ̃̃̒ͥ͒̃̎ͩ͑͒̚̕͜͞ḣ̆̉҉̢͎̠̝̝̲͙̩͖̫̞̀͢e͛̄̅̂ͬ̂̽̆ͯͤ̅̓̕͜͏̴̖̙̦͈̫̻͝ ̢͉͉͉̳͔̺̠̯̞͎̙̝͎̥̠ͭ̋̆̒ͦ̅̈ͣ̔̏͊ͫ̆ͫ́̕͞ģ͚̖̰͎̳̘͖̼̙̤̱̝͔̤̰͇̝̾̿ͥ̿̈̒ͫ̂̈́̓̑ͬͤ̾ͪͥ̀͠ͅǫ̧̞̺̰͔͉̫̙̱̮̤̞̲͍̭̥̔̽̊͌̀̄ͣ̊͛̈͋̋͗͠ļ̴͓̼̯͓͉̯̼̭̤̥̼̦̈͗̊̄ͤͤͯ́́̐̌́ͅd̴̼̫̼͕̯͙ͥ̄̈̈́̃ͭ͞ ͂ͮ̿ͦ̑͊̔̐̆͏̡͠͠҉̞̪̹̳͇͔̙̼̲̖ͅǫ̸͍̜̟̳̘̪ͧ̓͆ͤn̶̖͍͙̠̖͎̼ͥ͆ͩ̎̂͗ͧ͊̔ͨͬͯͥ̓̋̎̀͡ẽ̘̠̺̺̤̎ͧͨͨ͑̉̆͛͛̚̕͟͝!̍̓̅̃̾ͧ̌͒͌̄͛̿ͬ̑ͪ͒ͮ̀̑͏̷̤͈̺̖͙̣́͜ ̛̛̣̥̬̯̼̯ͫ̇̆̎̀̽̄̾ͬ̿̎͐̑ͯ͗ͫ̊̈͡͠G̣͕̙̈ͫͦ̀̇̉̐ͫ́ͬ̊̀ͅȯ̧̗̮͖̖͖͖̣͎̯̜̲̞͉̲̣̪͓͑ͦͩ̒͆͂̃ͮͅn̛̛͇͍̭͕̤͈̝̬̯̺̑̉̌̇ͭ̇̈́̏͂͛̉̑̍̐͗ͬ̀̆͡ȩ̷̨͚̦͇͇͓̦̠̣̮̤͓̝̬̙͇ͭ̊ͪͮͭ̾̾̍͞ ̶̶̢͊ͥ̎͊̾̅̒͆̍ͮ̿͑̇͛͋̎͛͋҉̩̫̘̮̩͉̣͔̝̩͇f̵̵̶͙͚̙̭̱͍̦̳̮̗͉̮̜̟̩̉͌̐̌ͮ̃̉͆͒ͦ͂̊ͧ̅ͯö́̍̎ͬ̑ͨ͌̀҉̴̘͇̝͇͡͠͠ṟ̵̷͕̮̙̣͇̦̠̻̊ͤ̃̽͜͜ͅͅͅm̟̗̘̖͎̫̞̗̰̙̻̜͇̬ͩ͗̈ͬͫ̈́ͦͮͥ͐͆̏͢͡ ̡̣̹͇̲͇͔̜͉̙̟̮͕͙͔̻͊ͣ̉͛̐ͪ͛̌̀̈ͮ̋̃͌ͮͬ͆̚̕͝a̴̧̱͎̘͉̦̤̼͉̖͙̻͓̫͇͎̔͋͆͛̑ͪͭ͌ͥ͆̊ͣͦ̊̐̚͝l̷̴̡̯̗̤͓̙̰͉̬͎̝͔̼͇͖̤̜ͨͬ̽́ͫ̋l̶̯͔̟̯͎͊̔̓̍ͣ̉̅̎ͬ̌̽ͯ̉̾ͣ̒͋͝ ̴̨̯̪͓̞̺̮͕̓ͩ̎̀͟͠ͅỏ͕̝͕̰͍̲̦̜̻̫̩̂̊̏̓̏̓͊͂ͧͯͧ̋̀̚͝f̸̡̠͙͉̗̰̪̤̘̫̣͙͖ͮ͌́͌͐ͭ̓͋̆ͯͯ͆͜ ̨̛̤͉͕̞̟̯͚̳̬͎̙͇̻̲̹̈́͑̈́ͅư̷͙̠̗̻̟̬͒ͥͮ̏̔ͤ̽̚s̵̷̬̝̜̈́ͫ̏ͦ͗͐͢͢͟.̴̤͉̱̣͖͇͍͙͍̹͙̬̣̊̓̈́̽ͨ̄̾̆̎ͨͪ̀̃͜͜ ̨̠͓̜͈̜͕̗̖̠̣̃̂͆͛̽̈́̅̾̉͛̔̈̾͂̍̀̚̕͜͡H̴̶̨̰̫͔̖͚̫̱̹͚̻ͣ̽ͩ͌͗̾̇ͫ̒ͬ̐̔͟ȩ͚̗͖͎̍̒͗̌͑͛͐̄ͧͣ̑͒͂̒̍̾͋ͫ͢ ̶̡̧̞͍͖̝̗͕̙̠̺̞̗͉̺̯͕̮̺̍͗ͤ̒̆͆͐̏̏́͞i̵̵̟̦͉̱̦͚̋͌ͫ̉̈́ͥͧ̕͠͞s̸̶̢̱̻̤̩̺̳̬̹͙̯̺̣͓͋͌͂̇̽̃ͥ̔̋̿̿͊͠ ̠̙͇̘͎̰̗̯̘͍̤́ͩͯ̑͗ͩͩ̓ͯͩ͐͊͊̂̐̌̐̏͘͜ͅͅǵ̸͛̀̅͌̂ͯ̉̽͐ͥ̍̃ͤ҉̳̗̞̰̙̤̲̯̠o͆̂̚͏͏͍̯̫̳̹̥n͒ͯͪ̈҉̴̨͔͇̳͇̗̯͈͘͝ͅ_

 _..._

 _..._

* * *

This time, it wasn't just Sonic.

Shadow felt and heard that, too.

Both hedgehogs, now with literally fuming headaches, gazed into each other's eyes. What _was_ that? _Who_ was that? It felt like another warning, but they couldn't understand. The words felt even more corrupted with every sentence. Their foreheads were hot, and sweaty. Why did hearing those messages screw them up like this? Sonic hissed while rubbing his temple. "I-I don't understand."

"Neither...do I.." The dark one panted.

"Wait, you heard it too?"

"Yes. Someone was trying to speak to me, but it all sounded jumbled and," Shadow closed his mouth shut. "Ugh," He grumbled from the trauma radiating on his cranium. Was it perhaps another language? He faintly remembered studying older languages on the ARK, but never something like that. "And our Super forms, they've lost all their power. I don't think this is permanent but, I assume it'll take a while for them to charge up."

"My head is killing me, I just wanna get some air."

"Fine." The dark hedgehog wiped the top of his forehead with the back of his arm. Didn't the festival start today? The shows Zonic talked about would start soon, if he wasn't mistaken. Sonic stood up from the bed and stretched, cracking his bones. He took a quick gander at Shadow, who watched him move his outstretched body. He started to smirk. He liked what he saw. After all, he wasn't dressed. They were in Zonic's apartment, and were getting ready to leave for the day. All he had on were his socks. Before they left, maybe they could take a quick shower together.

"Hey," Sonic put his bare hands on his hips. "Wanna take a shower real quick?"

"Absolutely." The elder continued to watch as his blue partner walked to the bathroom, wagging his finger at him to follow. Ooh, so he wanted to tease him again? Two could play at that game. Once Sonic made it in the bathroom, Shadow chaos controlled directly in front of him. The hero yelped alarmingly, not expecting the ultimate life form to teleport inside. He pulled off his gloves after clipping off his rings, tossing them aside on the tile floor. His shoes were already in the bedroom. Sonic slipped off his own socks, and once he did, Shadow grabbed his peach arm immediately.

He pulled the younger Mobian into the shower, before turning the metal knobs of the running water. He carefully made sure he put on the right temperature of water, and tested it by letting the shower head rain down on his palm. He caught Sonic trying to reach for a bottle of shower gel, but Shadow was still holding his arm. He roughly pulled him back, moving forward and pinning him against the wall with his hands up. Sonic immediately felt Shadow move his head to the side and attack his neck. His tongue dragged over the surface of his body, making him shiver. He tried not to laugh at his behavior as he moaned lightly. He knew he'd charge at him once he teased him like that.

"Mnn..A little more underneath..." Sonic smirked, he purposely made his voice sultry. All just to inch Shadow closer and closer to the edge. He felt a nibble, and then a bite at his skin, making the other jump. He gasped sharply, but then he just chuckled. "Nmm, asshole.." He felt Shadow's grip on his wrists loosen, and rub down his body. Mostly his lower torso. The hero of Mobius just wrapped his arms around the other, and laid back against the wall as he ravished him with his mouth. He obeyed what he said before, and moved more to the front. He dipped his tongue underneath his chin, and directly above his collar bone. Right against his neck. Once he did that, Sonic made the most delicious expression yet.

" _A-Aaahh!_ Mm..!" He jerked up, gasping loudly and flinching his entire body. His head dove back instantly, feeling excruciating pleasure envelope him. He shivered with a long moan, gripping his fingers into Shadow's fur. His eyes were closed firmly, his mouth agape. His arms and his legs were shaking. That was where he liked to be touched? How did he never find this spot before? Interesting. This must have been what Rouge referred to as a G spot. Apparently it was a place that sent someone's nerves and sexual pleasure on a million. But, that was only in females. And in the case for a male, that spot was usually in the...Eh..Sonic panted hotly, his eyes dark with lust as he opened them to blankly stare at nothing. What an odd place. So that's why Sonic wanted him move his tongue there.

"So that's your weak point? To think, I could have beaten you plenty of times like this."

"I-If you did that..Every time we fought...I would have fallen for you ages ago.."

Leering at his euphoric utterance of satisfaction, the dark one's chuckle rumbled against his fur. "Really? What a pity. I could have had you more times than you can count. Every night, hearing you moaning and begging, writhing underneath me."

" _Fuck_ , Shadow stop talkin' like that-Ahh..!"

Shadow had lowered his head and licked against something else on his chest instead. He felt Sonic's legs push against him, almost like he wanted to thrust himself against something. Shadow put his arms around his waist and lifted him up off of the shower floor. He let his blue legs tangle themselves around his torso, and lock on tightly. He pressed him against him, his crotch pushing against Sonic's pelvis. They both were getting hard. Well, Shadow was in the process of it, while Sonic was already rigid. That little neck spot of his automatically made him hard. "Tell me hedgehog," Shadow growled as he thrusted his hips against him, pressing their lengths with quick force. The wet sensation of their bodies colliding together made the pleasure increase twice as much. "How long were you planning on keeping that little place of yours a secret?"

"M-Mnn," Sonic held onto his shoulders securely. "It's not that I was keepin' it a secret," He protested. "I was just tryin' to give you a chance to find it. And let me tell ya," He breathed. "It was heaven. But don't do it again, I might, you know.."

"Maybe I want you to cum."

"S-Shadow-!"

"You think you can just show me a face like that, and not expect me to touch you there again? I want to see you make that face, but this time, I want you to scream my name while your doing it." His demands were spoken roughly and aggressively, giving Sonic a ravenous look.

"I-I...Shit..." Sonic cursed. Maybe he shouldn't have teased Shadow like that.

"Now move your head." He ordered. His voice was brutal, meaning it wasn't a request. The blue hedgehog began to sweat a bit, and not in the heat of self-indulgence. He reluctantly did as he was told, and moved his head more to the side, facing the wall while gripping his fingers more into his shoulders. He knew Shadow wasn't going to play nice. Once he stuck his tongue out, it'd be over. He clenched his eye lids and prepared himself for the worst.

Sonic had found out about his own little personal sweet spot the first time he did foreplay. The girl was kissing all over his face, while he touched her from below. Suddenly she started giggling and licked right in the middle of his neck. Sonic nearly lost his mind. Ever since then, he became extremely sensitive in that place. He never knew why, but that spot was just a danger zone for him. And now, Shadow was about to abuse that place. He felt his hot breath against him, twitching in fear at the upcoming immense pleasure. He almost squeaked at the feeling of Shadow's tongue hovering over the crook of his neck.

Then, he felt the familiar sensation of a thick, moist organ smothering against his skin.

With the gasp of a thoroughly pleased blue hedgehog, Shadow laughed to himself as he felt his hips charge against him. White shot up and splashed against his chest, his member twitching as more drops squirted onto them both. Sonic had released his grip from Shadow's shoulders, laying against the tiled wall as if he was just shot to death. His face was in pure shock, but not of pain. He was smiling, his eyes lowered and pitifully shadowed in sinful desire. His legs were opening as he was panting, revealing more of himself to Shadow as he had him cooped up on the wall. As Shadow viewed the wondrous sight of his rival's sexual high from his amazing climax, he saw something interesting.

There was a bunch of chaos energy being stored in that place. Of course, chaos energy existed in the entire body form, but it also clumped up in pressure points. The neck, or the throat, was a major chakra point in the body. Of course when Shadow studied this, the article was talking about humans, not Mobians. However, since Mobians and humans were so alike, he figured the same went for them as well. Sonic had a lot of energy in that place, so anything that would positively strike a nerve in his neck would send his impulses on overdrive. His brain was sending several messages to his body to feel pleasure over and over in seconds.

"How fascinating. You hide a lot of chaos energy here, so that's why this spot is so sensitive. I wonder, what would have happened if I focused some of my power in my tongue, then licked you there?" He smirked. "You'd probably die a very happy death, wouldn't you?"

"I...I can't take it anymore...At this rate, I'm gonna end up snapping.." Sonic managed to whimper. "If I do..." He trailed off ominously with a growing smirk. Shadow did the same, caressing his face with one hand.

"Oh? What would happen?" He challenged.

"Tch," Sonic put his hand up to Shadow's, the one that was caressing him, and held it within his own. "Wouldn't matter who's on top, cause you're the one who'd be screaming my name by the end of it."

"Oh really?" Shadow gave a chaste, but aggressive kiss onto the blue hedgehog. "You really think it would go down like that?"

"No." Sonic pulled Shadow's hand from his muzzle,held it up to his mouth, and sucked against his index finger. Shadow felt the heat between his legs get bigger and bigger. "I know so, faker." The hero darkly countered. "Even if you were the one screwing me, I'd ride you so hard, you wouldn't be able to take it. And if I topped, well...Let's just say you wouldn't last two seconds. You don't know who you're dealin' with. No matter what," He slid his tongue against the digit, "I'd make you cum so hard-"

"-God, I just want to fuck you right into this damn wall." The bionic hedgehog interrupted him with a growl, before leaning forward and engaging his mouth into his. Their tongues were unsheathed quickly, diving into each other. While they kissed, they took some time to take a breather, talking more smack. "You arrogant little hedgehog," Shadow playfully insulted while touching all over his partner. "If you want to save that 'V card' of yours, you better shut your mouth."

"Or what? Nmm," Sonic moaned as he continued to talk dirty. "You're gonna fuck me? Well too bad asshole," He reaches his hands down to smack Shadows arms off, and hopped down from his hold. "You gotta wait just like everybody else. But I'll do you a favor." Sonic put his hand between his own legs, touching himself as he got on his knees. He moved a little closer to Shadow's legs and reached his hand up against his black furred thigh. "I'll suck you off, and you can put it _all_ in my mouth. How's that?" He suggested as he rubbed his palm underneath Shadow's length.

"Ngh.." Shadow grunted as he adverted his eyes away as he was touched. "For a hero, you've got a filthy mouth."

"Like I said," He stuck his tongue out to tease his shaft. "You don't know who you're dealing with. I had a personal life too, ya know. Mmn," He hummed as he placed the member inside his mouth.

For this moment in time, all Shadow had to do was lean back, and relax.

* * *

In white sparks of light, he saw himself in the center of No Zone's ninety degree city. He felt that his balance was a little off, but it'd wear off soon. The green hedgehog saw the hustling and bustling of people rushing from in and out of the area, hastily moving as they uttered about some kind of festival. Festival, hm? He wondered why-Ohh, wait a sec, didn't Blue help mister Robocop save the day from that Nega guy? Probably to celebrate that, or whatever. Well, it doesn't matter. He couldn't be seen like this, someone might get the wrong idea. After all, from the corner of his eye, he saw some cops on patrol already. They must be hundreds of them around.

While he wouldn't mind it, now wasn't the time to get arrested for the fourth time. He had something to do, and he couldn't be seen. He darted his eyes to a building with an alley. He could hide behind there while he changed real quick. It was in ruins, with new affixed structures of wood and a tall site built right in front of it. There were plenty of tools and machines lying around blocking the view of the alley, a perfect spot. He ran from the scene in a streak of green. Once he was hidden behind the unfinished building, his red eyes shined in delight.

He looked down at his own hands, and watched as they transformed into different limbs that weren't his own. Before long, his entire body was no longer that of Scourge the Hedgehog's, but of an everyday citizen who's native to No Zone. While changing his species, a simple, brown long eared hedgehog with grey eyes, his clothing changed with it. A simple dark brown trench coat accompanied with a matching fedora hat. His scars were gone, and he hardly looked recognizable. He whistled as he strolled from out of the alleyway. His hands in his pockets, smiling as he waved to strangers who just happened to walk by.

He had some scouting to do.

* * *

"Sonic prime got me cake, yesterday." Zonic said to no one as he poked his silver fork into the small plastic plate of cake. He still had some left over. He was in the medical ward, sitting in the room 304. The heart monitor beeped quietly, barely bothering him as the room fell silent after each time. He sat in one of the chairs beside the hospital bed, that was pulled up right in front of the patient. Right by the window, where the sun shined through. The warmth of it made the commander comfortable in such a drab room. As he placed another piece of sweetness into his mouth, he looked over at the patient in the bed. Zonic smiled, placing his fork down. "I wonder what you're dreaming about. Or if you're even dreaming at all, first lieutenant general." He addressed fondly.

The coma induced man who lied in that bed, stared up at the ceiling soullessly.

Zonic noticed, his body was getting worse. His eyes were bloodshot for some reason, and the veins in them were very visible. His eyes seemed to roll farther behind his head everyday he visited. He looked like he was choked to death, with the exception of blueness in the face. His muzzle wasn't the tan color it was supposed to be, and looked almost paler than Sonic's prime peach muzzle. His former scarlet eyes, were now burgundy, almost brown. He was fighting for his life every second he needed to inhale and exhale. He looked like he wanted to rot, but the doctors refused. They still kept him on life support, with the tubes and wires stuck inside of him, the only things keeping him alive at this point. He was barely hanging on, and his condition was getting worse.

Despite his corpse-looking appearance, Zonic wasn't bothered by it. He just leaned over, placing a kiss on the side of his cheek.

...

...He was cold.

 _Ahahaha._

 _Hahahahahaha._

 _Aahh~_ _What was I just thinking again...? Oh yeah! Zhadow was fine. He'll be out of here in no time._ He just continued to smile, and looked back over to his slice of cake to eat another piece. _Nmm mmn, just scrumptious._

"I know I didn't say it before you left," He said after he swallowed his final piece. "But I still want to say," He took his hand from his plate, and reached over to touch and grasp his lover's hand.

He was freezing.

 _No, he was warm. Warm, warm, warm...Alive, warm, waaarrrmmm..._

"I love you, Zhadow." He whispered.

Again, to no one.

He hoped the festival was coming along nicely. After all, the HQ paid good money to see it happen. Hopefully Sonic prime would have a nice time with Shadow prime.

And maybe they won't make the same, stupid mistake that they made.

* * *

"Hoooollllyy craaaaap!" Sonic gasped.

The festival was on in No Zone, and it was beautiful!

Sonic noticed the futuristic city made a change for the better, transforming the entire town into a more modernized civilization. And by that, he meant that the city looked more like Mobius prime. It looked, homey, and normal. Buildings were decorated with multicolored lights. From their windows to their roofs, they were it up gorgeously. Up in the skies were helicopters or small planes with banners flowing in the air. They read 'Celebrate!' or, '1st Annual Anniversary!' There were drones in the skies accompanying them that shot out confetti and streamers onto the grounds below, a little at a time. So the streets and pavements were soon covered in sparkly icons.

Certain businesses were shut down to celebrate, but local stores were proud to be open. Clothing stores, bakeries, restaurants or anything else that gave people goods were happily open. The festival would be the best time to have your shop up and running. The shops even had a theme dedicated to the festival, selling anything that had to do with Eggman Nega's defeat, the Zone Cops, or the blue hero himself.

Performers were being ushered to the center of town, and there were people setting up nearby carnivals and opening up arcades. It was basically Mardi Gras. Everyone except for those in No Zone Corp had the next three days off. School was out, people were off of work, had shorter hours or worked from home.

The security was extremely tight throughout the entire zone, and officers on patrol were scanning for the slightest sign of suspicion. If you didn't have identification papers, you couldn't really go anywhere. Zonic hadn't informed them not too long ago that even they needed their own ID's to prove they weren't impostors. Thankfully, they were already printed up and sent to the apartment before they left, so they had them in their quills if they needed to pull them out.

Any cop who looked their way, Sonic and Shadow flashed them an ID before putting them away. As they looked around, they were filled with a sense of opportunity. What could they do? There was so much to do! Food stands, stores on sale, carnivals, amusement rides were setting up...Where would they start?

Then something hit Sonic. What did _Shadow_ want?

He slowly looked at the ultimate life form, who looked more confused than excited. All of these colors, all of these people in one place, all of this celebration, he probably wasn't used to it. He was probably intimidated by all this, even though he'd never admit it. He probably wanted to go right back to the apartment and stay inside until it was over. Sonic asked him something, before they walked any further down the street. He held his peach arm out, his gloved hand grasping his black and red striped arm. "Shadow." He said his name calmly. "If this isn't your thing, we can go back."

The dark one noticed the tone in the younger one's voice. He was worried for him. He was worried that he couldn't get used to this. That he was too, alien, for this. Well, he was sure Sonic wouldn't use that word specifically, but that's basically what it seemed like. He needed to show him that he wasn't scared. Sure, this was a bit much for him, but it wasn't too much. He could deal with this, some how. Especially if he was there with him. "I'm fine. Let's just keep going." He gently took his hand off of his arm. "Just, take us to where you want to go first."

"You sure..?"

"Yes."

"Okay. But just let me know." The hero gave him a smile, before turning and walking in the direction of one of the stores along the street. They moved past toy stands and performers rushing to their appropriate areas. Soon, Sonic had pulled Shadow into a clothing store. He was perplexed. Why take them here? They didn't wear clothes. But before he could protest, Sonic had already ran to a rack full of hoodies. Ironically, it had his own blue icon on it. Shadow just shook his head. Of course that idiot would want merchandise of himself.

Shadow then heard static. He reached his hand in his own quills and pulled out a transmitter from the commander. He listened in before responding. _"Shadow prime?"_ He heard Sonic's twin say.

"Yes, commander?"

 _"There you are. Excellent news. The warden finally figured out the problem in my monitors. They are being cleaned up of any bad data as we speak, and they should be functional the day after the festival."_

Thank goodness. So his monitors would be working in the next three days. That was good news. "That's perfect. Anything else?"

 _"Yes. In the next twenty minutes, the show will be ready. I need you and Sonic prime to stay within the city area, preferably in the center. You will be picked up."_

"Picked up?"

 _"Yes. Let it never be said that I break my promises. I promised you both good seats, didn't I?"_

"Err, yes but-"

 _"Great. Be ready in twenty minutes."_

The connection ended with another short sound of static. Shadow just sighed and placed it back in his quills. He then realized Sonic still wasn't back. Where did that moron go? "Faker?" He called, earning odd stares from others in the store. He just rolled his eyes at the attention and kept moving in the direction of where he previously saw the hero. "Faker." He said again with more of a groan. Of course he'd lose him in this war zone of fabric and cotton. He looked through and over the hoodie rack, but he wasn't there."Faker-"

"Yeah?"

Shadow swiftly turned around, only to see Sonic right behind him with that same blue hoodie. It fit him rather nice. It even showed off some of the midriff of his peach stomach. "There you are. Where were you, anyway?"

He smiled at him while nodding over to the back of the clothing section. "Dressing room. Some guy tried to peak in and take pictures, though..."

The dark one squinted both eyes harshly. "...I'm sorry?" Shadow didn't quite hear that right.

"Yeah some guy, a fan I guess, was in the stall next to me watching me undress into different ones." The younger said while scratching his chin. Then he shrugged. "I mean, he wouldn't be the first person to do that, but you know how it is."

"Where is he?" He hissed with noxious venom in his voice. That in itself startled Sonic, but his vengeful expression shook him up even more. "Where is he?" He repeated more assertively this time. Sonic just flinched and held up two hands anxiously.

"Now hold on Shadow, let's calm down-"

"I won't ask you again."

"Hold on, damn it! You're gonna try to kill him!"

"There is no 'try', I _will_ kill him!"

"No, you can't! 'Cause Zonic's gonna kill _you_ in return!"

"I'll take my chances."

"Well I'm not gonna let ya, cause I think I like having you being able to breathe, versus being six feet under No Zone Prison!" After he said that, he saw his partner was still fuming red. Geez, Shadow was possessive. It was cute in a way, and actually a little hot, but it was also very annoying. God forbid the guy groped him or something, he just wanted a picture or two. It was paparazzi. "Look," He placed his, for some reason, bare peach hand on the side of his tanner muzzle. He leaned closer and stole a quick kiss to calm his nerves. "I'm used to it. It's just paparazzi. I get that a lot. He didn't touch me or anything. I swear."

Shadow wouldn't say anything, his eyes were just somewhere else. Then, he slowly looked into his green eyes with a want for sincerity. "And you're sure he didn't touch you?"

"I swear to Chaos, or whatever the hell's up there." He pulled Shadow's hand closer to his chest, making his gloved fingers brush against the zipper of his hoodie. "And if you think I'm lying, you can always punish me~"

"..You're tempting me again. And I really don't want to embarrass the both of us by shoving you on the floor, with your ass facing upwards."

"Riiiight.." Sonic easily let go of Shadow's hand and cleared his throat. Right, teasing Shadow was never a good idea. Unless he was in the mood, but Sonic wasn't in the mood right now. "Buuuut!" He held up a finger and disappeared in a blue flash with wind hitting his face. After less than a second, he rushed right back to him, standing in front of him with a huge grin on his face. Shadow became skeptical, until Sonic held up a shiny black leather jacket. There was red lining inside, and there was fur on the collar, and there was a hood to it with holes for the ears. "I gotcha this!"

Now, it put a bit of a bad taste in his mouth because it reminded him of Scourge, but it still looked really nice! It was sleek, fashionable, and dare he say it, actually cool. And, Sonic paid for it. It was a gift from him. That just makes it even better. He really wanted to wear it, now. Shadow held out both hands, and Sonic placed it in his hold. The jacket was a little heavy, but not too heavy. The material was strong and thick, but not rigid. He put it around himself and slipped his arms through the sleeves. It fit him flawlessly. This was just his size.

In so little words, he loved it.

"You like it?" Sonic almost hopped and down when he asked that.

"I...Yes, I do." Shadow tugged on it. It definitely wouldn't tear easily. "It's, nice." He said softly.

"Sweet!" The hero cheered. "It was on sale too. Pretty snazzy deal." He pushed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "I'm just glad nobody _has_ to wear pants around here. They make you feel trapped, ya know? I know some places won't even let you step foot into-Shadow?" Sonic noticed his silence and glanced at him. He was looking at the sleeve of the jacket, but he couldn't read his face. But his cheeks were a bit red. He guessed that was his way of being flustered. Aw, his little heart must have skipped a beat. "You okay over there?"

"Yeah." He replied quietly. He looked away while taking his hand away from the sleeve. "Thank you, but you didn't have to do that."

"You know how I am. Besides, this is my first time buying you somethin'. No harm done."

Shadow bit the inside of his cheek. God damn it, why was it so hard to keep his cool around this idiot all of a sudden? He, really didn't have to go and do that. Shadow almost wished he didn't because, now his chest was warm. And so was his face. He was tempted to zip the jacket all the way up until the furred collar covered his face. He couldn't let this faker make a habit of making him speechless all the time! So he made a ghost of a smile, before requesting something that'd surely blow him away. "Sonic?" He used his name seriously.

Noticing that, Sonic's eyes blinked a few times, watching as the other unclipped his rings and gloves. He then chaos controlled the accessories elsewhere in small flashes of green light. The hero rose a brow. "Uh, yeah?"

"When we leave," Shadow held out his hand to him. "Would you like to hold my hand?" He asked with an angelic smile.

Sonic the Hedgehog then felt his own heart shoot up right into his throat, before plummeting back down into the bottom of his stomach.

Huh? Why was this so baffling? He had girls ask him that so many times.

So why did he...Why..Did he feel his heart beating a million miles per second?

And why did he feel so warm?

Was it that question? Was it that smile? Or was it just-

...Shadow?

* * *

 **END - 20**

 **I'm very sorry that there's been a lack of action, but I promise that will change soon. Please be patient, and you will be satisfied. Trust me. Maybe a little too satisfied...**

 **Anyway, so yeah, Shadow's possessive. Zonic's going insane, and Sonic's absolutely oblivious to the destruction of his world. As for Scourge, this is his reason as to why he wants to cause misery. There's a lot of layers to his reasoning, but the beginning of the chapter tells the main reason.**

 **Will things get better for Mobius? Who knows.**

 **So let's get to the bonus time, shall we? There's only one for this chapter, but it can also serve as a clue.**

1\. Sonic has a big source of chaos energy in his neck. Scourge's energy is in his *******.

 **Oh and by the way,** _you all are guessing liars in the story. All the people you guys have named so far isn't the liar that I'm hinting at. Whoever this liar is, this info will be important in the future._

Oh yeah, and there's another weird thing being posted after this. It's not important to the story or anything, you can totally just ignore it...


	22. where are these coming from?

**2 (?) - LATERTHEYKING (?)**

* * *

No...This is unfortunate.

* * *

 _Unfortunate...? Just unfortunate? This is horrible news! Everything is falling apart!_

* * *

I, I am aware but-

* * *

 _Not even my power can fix this. They have all perished._

* * *

 ** _Aww, I think this is quite progressive._**

* * *

 _Of course you would think so, you miserable bastard._

* * *

How would you find any of this amusing?! They are all gone! Our people are dead!

* * *

 _ **Our people? Now that is amusing. They were never our people, they were just**_ _ **martyrs. They always worshiped us, but now they think they are one with us. They think they have died for our sake, despite how untimely their deaths were.**_

* * *

You vile son of a-!

* * *

 **You think this is entertaining?**

* * *

 _ **Oh? So you have come back to us after your humiliating banishment?**_

* * *

The only one who should have been banished was you, swine.

* * *

 _What's more amusing is the fact that you figured I would not find out about your foolishness._

* * *

 ** _And what if I did? It was not for naught, he was meddling with your plans. I thought you wanted me to get rid of him?_**

* * *

 **...What?**

* * *

 _ **Ohhhh! I must have forgotten that he was not supposed to know that. My sincerest apologies.**_

* * *

 _You are the single most detestable, insufferable_ _heretic I have ever had to deal with._

* * *

 _ **You flatter me so. And you are the most beautiful, purest angelic darling I have ever met.**_

* * *

 **...**

* * *

 _ **Oh dear. Are you angry with me?**_

* * *

 **...It does not matter. Soon another will come. And you will rue the day that our kin were wrongly sacrificed.**

* * *

 _ **If you say so, love. Perhaps this new spawn will bless us with it's innocence.**_

* * *

 _When one is indeed conceived on this planet once more, I will see to it that you will not taint them with your heresy._

* * *

We will make sure you will never have access to them! You will never hear of them, and you will never see them age or perish.

* * *

 **It is best that you never lay eyes on them.**

* * *

Never speak to them.

* * *

 **Do not even think of them.**

* * *

 _ **Fine, fine. I shall wash my hands of this. For now. However, you all fail to remember the fact that I am one of the most important elements of this universe. Chaos is what makes the universe operate. You cannot have purity without madness. You cannot avoid the inevitable. Whether you all like it or not, I will meet this child eventually. Will they fall to my illusions? Perhaps, perhaps not. No one can see that future. But what will be seen, is my meeting with the newborn. None of you can overpower me, and you all are far too weak to try and stop me, little brothers.**_

* * *

 _Hahahahaha..._

* * *

 ** _Tch. I seem to have made a joke without my knowledge. Could you please explain it to me?_**

* * *

 _My apologies, little brother. You just seem to think it is appropriate to spout out false information. I am the eldest of all of you, despite who's more powerful than who. And actually, as of this moment by default, since there is currently no newborn to influence, no one is stronger than anyone. Since I am the eldest, I believe that I am the one who still makes the rules here. Meaning, that if I rule it, you cannot see the newborn child._

* * *

 ** _Really? That still doesn't matter, brother. By law, all of us must meet this newborn at least once in their lifetime! That is not in your power to stop me!_**

* * *

 _Indeed that is true. But I still have the power to keep your visits limited. Just like always, everything will be fair game. But because of your negligence, and your treason for weakening our kin so that they could be prone to moribund, you will receive a disadvantage. And to make it even more fair, I shall disadvantage myself. Neither you or I can visit them more than once in their life time._

* * *

What!? No, you can't-

* * *

 _I am confident this new one will make the right choices. So confident, that I will limit myself to them as well. If they wish to interact with either of us more than once, they will need to find us here again and awaken us. Is that a fair deal?_

* * *

 ** _...Fine. You win._**

* * *

 _T'was not a matter of winning, little one. It is the fate of their future._

 _Yes...We will see what they will do with our powers in due time._

 _Will they destroy the world, or will they heal it?_

 _Only time will tell, brothers._

* * *

 **END - ?**

 **"Later they king."**

 **Later, they shall king someone.**

 **Don't forget to read chapter 20 first.**


	23. Day Of The Festival

**21 - Day Of The Festival**

* * *

Oh, that's where they were?

How adorable, they were holding hands like a dull-witted couple that drowned in puppy love. Tch. The very thought of them gettin' all chummy like this made him sick to his stomach. Well they put themselves right in his hands, because he was only right behind them. Literally. As they walked down the streets of the festival, he had his hat lowered so that his eyes weren't that visible. He was walking right behind the two hedgehogs. When he took over this form, he made himself a little taller. He was towering over the both of them by an inch, glaring down at Shadow, while eyeing Sonic dubiously.

He didn't even want to know what they've done since he last spied on them. They probably fucked by now. Damn it, that was supposed to be _him!_ _He_ was supposed to take his chastity! Ugh...No, wait a second. His chaos energy felt normal. One can tell if someone lost their virginity if their chaos wavelength was wide, bulky and straight. A virgin's chaos energy was tight, thin, jumbled up and tangled like wires. Of course, most males were considered 'virgins' in certain ways, but it all depended on how the chaos host's body felt. If they felt as if they were a virgin, their wavelength would accommodate through their mental comprehension. Basically, the brain. This went for both genders as well. The theory is, if one lost their virginity, their body itself isn't so uptight or strict anymore. The lost of innocence weakens the tight hold on their wavelength, and relaxes.

Scourge could tell that Sonic's wavelength was still very dense, disarrayed and narrow. Looks like Stripes ain't hit that yet. Good news for him, he guessed. That didn't change the fact that they fooled around a lot, though. He could just tell by the way they talked, the way they interacted. They must have did something earlier today, lustful imbeciles. Well, he wasn't one to talk but, still. He made sure as he walked, the space between them wasn't too close, but not too far so that he'd lose them. As he watched them move, he felt something else.

What in the-?

 _ **"The gold ones are no longer with us, for now. I have rendered them powerless, temporarily."**_

Ah, was that Boss?

 _ **"I will keep them sedated until the result of your war."**_

 _Okay, so you're saying you put down their Super forms for a while. Meaning, they won't be a problem when I make my attack. Pretty useful, but how long do we have?_

 _ **"The one you mortals refer to as** the light one **, is losing it's strength as well. You have four and a half days. See to it that you will not waste this time."**_

 _You got it._

Once he ended the conversation with Fleetway, he realized that Stripes and Blue were gone. How the hell did he lose them so quickly!? He growled under his breath and looked around, his eyes darting from place to place.

 _"The show funded by No Zone Corp and Warden Zobotnik is about to start. All attendants please report to Zenon Park. And don't forget to show identification before entering the area and sit in your designated seat. Remember that if you show any signs of suspicion, you will be escorted by No Zone Police and taken in for questioning. Thank you."_ A female announcer said. He noticed there were speakers around in traffic lights, and he saw zone cops reminding people about the show that was about to start up. Thanks to the roads being shut off, too many people were flooding his vision. Where the hell was Sonic?!

His ears then perked up to the sound of a helicopter. He looked up, craning his neck to the sky. Wind pushed against the grounds of the street, and the heads of anyone who walked by. Dust, small amounts of trash and patches of dirt flew above from the force. A chopper was in the air, but this one was different from the others. And...! Sonic was inside! And so was Stripes. Shit, one of Zonic's goons was piloting it. That chameleon asshole.

He needed to follow that chopper.

* * *

The orange fox could see GUN HQ in the distance. It wouldn't be long before he landed. His older brother appeared in the back of his mind. He and Shadow were gone for at least a week now, in their own time. It's still only been a day or two in regular Mobian time. He sighed to himself, he hoped they were okay. Who knew what Scourge was up to? Then, he heard static in his wrist watch. He held it up to his mouth, letting it automatically pick up.

 _"Tails!"_

"What's going on, Knuckles?"

 _"I found Rouge and Amy in Twinkle Park, but-Shit..!"_

"What's wrong?" Tails frowned. That meant something bad just happened. He pressed his fingers tighter into the controls, pushing them forward even more to go faster.

 _"Forget HQ for now, head to Twinkle Park! We need to-Damn it! Argh..!"_

The transmitter was getting more static than his voice. It was breaking up, and their connection was failing unintentionally. Tails' blue eyes widened significantly when he heard the sound of explosions in the background. Was that the helicopter? It may have gotten damaged, but Knuckles was in danger. And Rouge and Amy might be too. So with a huff, the kitsune pulled his controls to the left, turning the aircraft around one hundred and eighty degrees, using as much fuel as he needed to bolt himself over to Twinkle Park.

After a minute or two of flying with the plane on it's highest speed, he arrived. He looked around with his goggles to see if he could spot his friends. He gulped to himself. There were so many dead bodies on the ground. This...This was really bad. He adjusted his goggles' view, making the scopes installed in the lenses zoom in closer. He saw a flash of red and pink. That was Amy! He peered a bit closer, noticing there were hundreds of angry mind-controlled Mobians chasing after her. He looked to his right of the window, and saw a lone, empty chopper on the roof of an abandoned building. Knuckles must have just got here. And he could see the propellers were destroyed.

He needed to get down there, now!

He grit his teeth, planning a risky move in his head. He dove the plane down further into the streets below, and pressed a button on his control sticks. A shift in mechanisms happened inside of the plane. From the bottom of the aircraft, weapons similar to machine guns slowly protruded from out of the plane's body and wings. Tails activated them to fire directly at the ground. As the bullets of the plane tailed the Mobians, they scattered in fear of getting shot. Tails purposely missed shooting at them, as he didn't want to kill anyone. That's not what these kinds of bullets were for, anyway.

He caught in the corner of his eye that Amy was running away even faster, while holding something large in her arms. Something white. Was-Was that Rouge? He needed to pick them up. And where was Knuckles?

"Tails!" He heard his voice yell. Speak of the Devil. The fox halted the movements of his plane and pressed a button to lift up the roof and the window so he could hear him better.

"Knuckles?!" He called. In the crowd of the now antsy and irritated Mobians, he saw a red echidna punching and throwing people off of him. They were jumping him. He needed to get them off! "Hold on.." Tails mumbled to himself as he aimed and fired at them, careful of the redhead. Bullets danced at their feet, and even grazed some of them. This caused them to get less rowdy, and just fled from the area. They ran in the opposite direction, either fighting each other or escaping to another place in the city. He carefully and steadily lowered his plane into the street, noting that the aircraft could barely fit between such a tiny block. Once he landed, he hopped out of the seat and ran to the guardian.

He was dusting himself off, cracking a few bones to ensure himself that he was alright to move. "Nice shooting, kid."

"Thanks but, are you okay?" He asked with understandable concern. Before Knuckles could even respond, Tails frantically rushed ahead of him. "Where's Amy?!"

"I saw her limp over there, come on!" The red one said while grasping and pulling Tails' arm with a little force. They moved and stepped over corpses, nearly tripping over debris and broken bits of cars. As they tried to run to their friend's destination, they noticed how similar Mobius and Anti-Mobius were. Dead bodies, destroyed and empty buildings, turned over or salvaged cars, and any means of authority was no longer effective here. All they could do was scowl, look away, and try not to look back at their bloody footprints staining the concrete. With a minute of sprinting, they finally arrived at a location that looked similar to an alleyway. And...Tails' nose wrinkled up. It smelled like seriously strong, rank cologne here. That only meant one thing: Scourge. That bastard was here not too long ago, but why?

They saw Amy huddled against the decaying brick wall, with a bleeding Rouge in her arms. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part, was that there were _others_ here. Others, who were very wounded. Cream, Cheese and Vanilla, were all slumped against the wall beside her. Vanilla and Cheese were out cold, but Cream's eyes were barely open. However, she was also unconscious. She had an open wound on her leg, too. Vanilla's forehead had a nasty gash in it, and the blood that seemed to have previously fell down her face dried to a more browner color. She needed medical attention immediately. As for the little chao, he was barely breathing. Probably low on energy. Cream just looked like she saw her worst nightmare, and didn't wake back up.

Rouge was in a similar position as Vanilla, with a mean gash on her temple. But hers looked more like an intentional bludgeoning wound, while Vanilla's looked like she accidentally smashed her face into something, or someone. She probably got hurt while escaping the crowd, but Rouge looked like she was attacked directly. Knuckles instantly went to Rouge's side, roughly asking Amy what happened to her. Tails went to Cream's side, and tried shaking her to wake her up. Knuckles joined him not a second later, trying to wake up the child as well. No luck.

Knuckles put his glove on the Vanilla's chest, and felt her heartbeat. It was still pretty normal, despite her injury. She was okay. He then pressed his hand underneath Cream's chin to try and feel a pulse. Thankfully, he felt a strong one. Yes, she was alive and very well. Finally, he gently picked up the tiny little chao from the ground into his hand. Carefully, he pressed one gloved finger on his squishy tummy, feeling his torso move up and down slowly. The poor thing was breathing. Thank goodness, they were all okay. They were all very strong to survive this hell.

"We gotta get them to HQ."

Tails bit his lip. There was no room in his plane for all of these people. Maybe if two people squeezed into the passenger seat, and the others rode on the wings of the plane. But they had more unconscious people than they had able-body. "There's no room on the plane. Unless," He saw Amy trembling on her knees while looking at the ground. He saw the three unconscious ladies on the alley floor. He then glanced at Knuckles. "Knuckles, can you ride on one of the wings of the plane while carrying Cream?" He saw the echidna nod his head confidently. He then knelt down to Amy's side and tried to help her up, her stance being wobbly. "Amy, I know you're shaken up, but I need you to get it together." The fox said softly. That green prick must have made her seen something terrible. She looked like she was crying not too long ago. "Can you ride on the other wing?"

The pink haired girl nodded her head slowly while whimpering. Tails sighed and looked at the two women who were currently unaccounted for. "I'm gonna try to put them both in the passenger seat, and I'll take Cheese with me."

With their transportation plan in mind, the three conscious Mobians grabbed the bodies they were assigned to, and rushed back to the plane. Knuckles carried Cream on his back, hopping on the right wing of the plane. Amy climbed onto the left plane, holding down her dress daintily. Tails struggled while carrying Rouge's body to the passenger seat. He did the same with miss Vanilla's, gently placing her next to Rouge. It was a tight fit, but it was the only way. He would have asked Amy to carry one of them, but she was still too shaky. She wasn't in any condition to take care of anyone as of this moment. He had the little chao in his hand, diving into the pilot seat and putting him in his lap. He shut the roof and windows down of the aircraft, and started up the plane.

The propellors began turning, and the machine rumbled. Knuckles and Amy held on tightly, keeping their balance in place.

* * *

"This is freakin' awesome!" The hero cried with his hands up in the air. The show wrapped up, and it was just as grand as Zonic said it would be. The gun show was outstanding. The soldiers selected to perform had some heavy looking machine guns in their hands. First they did some kind of step routine, then they shot bullet in the air. They weren't ordinary bullets though. Small colored patches of smoke popped out of them, almost like smoke bomb versions of fireworks. They had formed an Eggman Nega icon with the bullets. Then they shot bullets that formed the word 'VICTORY'. Finally, they shot bullets in a formation that created a Sonic icon. The crowd really cheered for that.

Next came the ship show, their navy. The crowd was escorted to the coast. It was a bit chilly there, so Sonic was glad he bought himself and Shadow something to wear. It was a water show right onboard the ships. Because the sea was such a large and spacious area, they had plenty of room to make tricks. The audience had a great view from the coast to watch, and they were also given binoculars. Shadow and Sonic got the best seats, watching the ships from above in the helicopter. They had lights, pretty imagery and some nice music that matched the performance. It wasn't just on one ship either, it was like all of the ships were using some kind of cannon to shoot out that pretty water simultaneously.

Finally, the airshow. At first, Sonic thought they were just going to watch from the air like everyone else. How wrong he was. Instead, Zespio smirked and simply said this. "You're both part of the airshow." Both Sonic and Shadow blinked in shock once he said that, and before they knew it, they dashed into the air along with the fighter jets and biplanes. The helicopter wasn't any normal chopper, there were certain mechanics and systems on that thing that could make it move just as fast as a jet.

The attack chopper followed along with the other planes. Sonic was having the time of his life, while Shadow curiously looked out the window to see everyone down below, cheering and hopping. Doing barrel rolls, and other loops in the skies made another message in the clouds. 'FIRST EVER ANNIVERSARY'. And, 'THANK YOU NO ZONE SOLDIERS', then, 'THANK YOU SONIC PRIME'. Along the ride, all Sonic could do was laugh and smile with flattery and gratitude.

When the show was over, and when Zepsio landed the chopper right in front of the crowd, Sonic heard them cheer for him. They cheered his name, along with soldiers of No Zone, and Zonic himself. He had no idea when or how he got there with everyone else, but he showed up too. Confetti shot down on top of the aircraft, and soon on his body as he exited the helicopter. Shadow joined him, but mostly stood by against the chopper's side. This was _his_ celebration, so he should enjoy the most of it for himself.

Sonic was no stranger to crowds of adoring fans cheering for him. With a genuine smile on his face, he held up his hand and waved. Other soldiers nearby stood up and saluted to him, before bowing. Zepsio did the same, a small grin on his face. Soon, everyone else halted their clapping, saluted, and bowed to the hero.

No matter how many times he was honored, respected or cheered for, he'd never get used to it. He'd never get used to the overwhelming love and compassion he felt for every single person out there who rooted for him. He could feel their appreciation, and kindness resonating from their hearts. They respected him just as much as Zonic. That, was something truly special, and it touched him.

He didn't even deserve all this praise. It was a little too much. For once, being cheered for was actually too much for him. As Shadow watched from afar, he smiled to himself. Looks like that arrogant hedgehog was too emotional for words this time. Served him right. But...

He was happy for him. He'd cheer for him too.

The show was over, and citizens were instructed to give Sonic some space and to continue having fun at the festival. Sonic dusted off the confetti that fell on him, having a permanent grin on his face. That made him so happy, he couldn't even contain it. While no one was looking, Shadow moved a little closer as they walked, and pecked the hedgehog on the cheek. Sonic felt himself blush a bit, playfully pushing the dark one away while giggling. Then, Shadow caught Sonic's hand and held it.

Oh God, he was still doing that. It's not like Sonic minded, it's just...It's a bit embarrassing in public.

What in the world?

Why was everything turning white all of a sudden?

Damn it, he couldn't see...!

"Ngh!" He tried covering his eyes, and heard Shadow call his name.

* * *

 _"Hey." Scourge greeted with a smile._

 _How the hell-? Where were they?_

 _Everything was white. No floor, no walls, nothing. And why was this asshole here? Why couldn't he move?!_

 _"Y-You..! Let me go!"_

 _"I just wanna ask something, okay?" He was talking a little too calmly. Too nicely. Something was wrong. He held out his hand to Sonic, with a smile. It wasn't fake, either. Or evil looking. What was his game here? "I know you like Stripes an' all, 'cause he's a goody-goody like you. Well, what if I said I could change?" He suggested, shocking the blue hedgehog. "Would you love me then?"_

 _"There's, no way you'd do that. Don't lie to me to try and trick me!" Sonic growled._

 _"I'm not lying. I'm asking you sincerely, would you love me if I was a good guy?"_

 _Would he love him? Hell no, for way too many reasons he didn't feel like getting into. Sonic just made a sound of disgust and retorted curtly. "As if I'd ever love someone as screwed up as you. Maybe we could have been friends, but definitely not a relationship." His eyes then shifted left and right. "I don't know where we are, but just put us back in reality. I don't want you, and you'll never have me. Get that through your damn head."_

 _The green one tilted his head. "Ah, I see." He chuckled lightly. "Hahaha."_

 _At first, it was a harmless laugh, until his blue eyes began shrinking and widening._

 _"Ahahahahaha." His eyes were twitching._

 _Sonic wanted to leave. He didn't like this._

 _"AHAHAhahahAHAHahaa-"_

 _"..?!"_

 _"-Aah...Guess it really doesn't matter, huh? Even if I was a good guy, you'd still hate me." Scourge whispered. He then smirked with a wide grin. "Why would I think any differently? You'd love to see me dead, wouldn't you?"_

 _"I didn't say that-"_

 _"HAHAHAHA!" His voice wasn't even his own anymore._

 _Sonic watched helplessly as Scourge raised his own hand, the one that was previously held out to him, and shoved his palm into his own stomach. There was blood already falling out of his torso. Why in...W-Why- "H-Hey! Stop it!" He couldn't move, he couldn't stop him. The red blood, was turning black. That, shouldn't have been possible. Then, he ripped his hand out and dove it back inside of his chest this time. Right where his heart was. He was still smiling at him, and he was still laughing at him. He was still asking that question._

 _"Aaww," He whimpered in pain. "Y-You, really hate me that much? You wanna see me dead? 'Cause if you don't kill me this time, everyone's gonna die, ya know?" He snickered. "So, come on Blue, love me. Please? I'll turn over a new leaf and everything. All you have to do is love me! I'll even let Stripes join us if you want. We can share you, work out some kind of agreement. I just wanna see you smile because of me. Laugh because of me. Hate because of me. Kill because of me. Love for me! Do everything for me!"_

 _"Just stop it, you're killing yourself!" Sonic cried._

 _"I want to love you, I wanna rape you. I wanna fuck you until your nose bleeds. I wanna hold you, squeeze you, strangle the fuckin' shit outta you! I want you to love, hate, kill and destroy everything all for me. I want you to learn. I want you to understand!"_

 _Scourge's arm shifted in his chest, as he was ready to pull out that vital organ._

 _Sonic screamed to make him stop. "STOP IT!"_

 _He ripped it out, and the beeping organ dissolved into black nothingness. Scourge, who was still grinning both painfully and manically, rolled his eyes backwards, fainting in front of Sonic in his own mess._

 _Too distraught to say anything else, Sonic watched as his body rotted right in front of him with lifeless eyes._

* * *

 _"_ Damn it, wake up!"

Sonic gasped with a start, his frightened eyes seeing Shadow in front of him. He tried catching his breath, feeling that his lungs were out of oxygen. The ebony hedgehog was gripping his shoulders, as it seemed as if he was previously shaking him to wake him up. The hero's eyes shook, like he saw a nightmare in real time. Shadow caught his sense of fear through his energy, and eased up his grip on his hoodie. He let him go, but held onto his hand.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked softly. Sonic gnawed at his lip and moved his eyes from his gaze.

"I.." He grimaced.

"Did you hear those voices again?"

"No, no I...I saw Scourge, Shadow."

"What? It must have been an illusion. What did he say?" His hold on his hand tightened painfully. "What did he do to you?"

"O-Ow! Ease off..!"

Realizing he was causing Sonic pain in his wrist, he took his hand off. "I'm sorry."

Sonic rubbed his wrist, sighing heavily before putting his hands back in his pockets. "He," He shifted his position around. How was he supposed to explain what he just saw? "We were both in some white space. He started asking me if I would give him a chance if he stopped being evil and turned good." He looked down at the ground as he talked. "Of course, I said hell no. Then he just went crazy and started hurting himself. He was killing himself. He kept saying these weird things about stuff he wanted to do to me. Then, he said he wanted me to ' _understand_.'"

"Understand what?"

"Heck if I know. It was all screwed up and, ugh.." Sonic looked away. "He's seriously messed up. I knew he was nuts, but not _this_ bad. He was _actually_ trying to kill himself in that illusion. He tore his heart out, literally. Right in front of me."

"That maniac's more obsessed with you than Rose, to a much more unhealthy extent." After he said that, he noticed Sonic's lack of response. He still looked down. "Just, try and ignore it. There's no way he's here. The commander wouldn't let that happen. You're probably still infected by his energy when he captured you." What he saw was probably a bit traumatizing. He knew he didn't have an easy life, and he knew he saw some really disturbing things in his life before. Perhaps not as much as Shadow, but he didn't know that for sure. There was still so much he didn't know about the hedgehog, and he hid things just as well as he did. Still, whatever he saw just now must have put him in a state of distress. Watching someone rip their heart out? That's fucked up in itself. "Hey." He nudged his arm.

"Huh?" The blue one looked up quickly.

"Why don't you take me to one of those 'arcade' abominations you people rave about?"

"...Heheheh," Sonic instantly cracked a smile. "You really are an old man." He took one of his hands out of his pockets and held out his palm for Shadow to take. "Come on, I wanna show you the claw machine." He said cheerfully. That was good, he was smiling again. He was still happy. He wanted to keep it that way.

* * *

Zonic leaned over the wide boardroom desk, settling his hands on the surface. Right below him was one of his female hackers. This particular boardroom was home to No Zone HQ's team of hackers who handled crimes occurring on the web. Some of them were monitoring the traffic lights of the festival on the closed off streets. Others were watching from the skies of drones or helicopters. Some were even watching from the helmets of local soldiers. Fortunately, no one saw anything out of the ordinary. However, selected few of the team were assigned to look over the encryptions on the Mobius Prime monitors. The warden had recently sent them all a file with the encryptions to try and figure out a way to unlock it.

In fact, that's what the female raccoon below him was trying to figure out. The commander leaned just a tad bit closer to see her laptop screen. He knew her well enough to be this close, so he figured she wouldn't mind if he took a little peek at what she was doing. "Any luck?" He asked. The young woman flinched at his voice being so close to her ear. She cleared her throat and adjusted her headphones while pushing her glasses up.

"A-Actually yes, sir. We managed to figure out most of this code. There's just one piece we're missing, one piece we don't understand."

"Elaborate." He ordered.

"We found the key to unlocking approximately ninety percent of the encryption, but there's one last line of code that's locked with something else." She glanced away from the computer screen to face her boss. "It's something I've never seen before. It's almost alien-like, something out of this world."

"Would you require the assistance of those from other realities?"

"I don't think even they can help, sir. I've already done some research and contacted other leaders from other realities under the warden's permission, and I still didn't find anything."

Someone poked their head up from a computer screen, a male grey cat. He was holding his hand up respectfully to gain Zonic's attention. "Permission to speak, commander."

"Permission granted."

"This has to be a new form of code, sir. Like she said, this looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. No one knows what in the world this is." He scowled. "We're this close to unlocking it, but we can't figure this last piece out." His frustration caused Zonic to squint his eyes. An alien-like code that no one could understand? He had something in mind, but he had to see it for himself to be sure. He looked down at the raccoon below him, and slowly placed his hands on the keyboard while eyeing her.

"May I?"

She nodded quickly while getting up out of her chair and wobbling over to the side. Zonic slipped into her seat and took the wireless mouse in his palm. He highlighted that single line of mysterious code, eyeing it's strange digits and letters carefully. Then, he held up his wrist. The very wrist with the control gauntlet strapped to it. It flickered and blinked a few times. Zonic raised a brow, it wasn't supposed to do that. He then held up his wrist to the computer screen, right in front of the codes. The flickering became more erratic, gaining everyone in the boardroom's attention. The raccoon blinked, pulling her glasses off from her face. The grey cat walked from around the long table along with a few others, now watching behind the commander's back what was happening.

The flickering gauntlet was turning red, and it was burning his hand. Zonic quickly unstrapped the device off of his arm and continued to hold it up to the screen with his fingers. Suddenly, the code began turning red. Soon, the control gauntlet made a few beeps. Zonic's eyes widened, he knew that was a bad sign. He dropped the device and jumped from out of his chair. He held his arm out and yelled for others to get back and move away from the computer. The hackers and scientists did as they were told by his orders. Then, they watched as the control gauntlet exploded right in front of the computer. They gasped in shock, while Zonic scoffed. Smoke drifted into the room, and the computer monitor sparked with a strange red electricity.

"Just as I thought, chaos energy." He stated. "No wonder none of you could understand them. None one possesses the ability to read chaotic code. It is a new form of hacking, developed by our favorite outlaw." He held his hand on his chin, and then bit the inside of his cheek. Shit, how were they supposed to fix this now? Not even Sonic nor Shadow could understand chaotic code either. No, this was his own fault. He should know what that means!

That was the language of _them,_ of the divine ones.

He was supposed to study that by order of the past Overseers. It was his duty to know the divine tongue, but he let himself get procrastinated with work and other matters. Damn it...

Someone burst through the doors, lightly panting while holding their knees. Zonic recognized who that was immediately. "Colonel Zespio?"

The second he addressed him, the chameleon began to shout uncontrollably. It was quite unlike him, and very disruptive. "Commander! This is important! They finally found them all, but something's wrong with them! You have to come with me to the-"

"Silence!" Zonic barked, startling everyone in the room. "You are rambling and shouting nonsense. About face!"

Zespio sucked in a deep breath and obediently turned around without a word.

"Attention!" He glared at the others, letting them know he meant them as well. They all scurried to Zespio's position, doing as he did. They held up their hands up to their temples, saluting with their backs turned. "About face." He ordered again. They all swiftly turned around in sync, with straightened postures. Zespio looked as if he was waiting to be given permission to speak. Zonic noticed this and crossed his arms. "At ease colonel." He saw Zespio relax his arms at his sides. "Normally I'd never chastise you like that, but you must have forgotten the rules around here. This boardroom is restricted to everyone, even to people of your rank. Unless given permission by myself, or the warden personally, you are not to just barge into a top secret area. Especially not while yelling random nonsense. These people need to concentrate, and I can't have you jeopardizing that." After he let a few minutes of silence pass, Zonic closed his eyes with a silent sigh. Zespio was practically begging him for permission to speak with his yellow eyes. What needed to say was crucial, he could tell. "Permission to speak freely, granted."

"Thank you, sir." Zespio bowed with a much more calmer voice. "My apologies for entering like that, but you are urgently needed down in the interrogation hall. Though I wasn't given permission, I needed to get you immediately."

"You could have easily contacted me via transmitter."

"That's the thing, lieutenant general, none of them are working down in the prison."

Zonic unfolded his arms and opened his eyes. "What?"

"Colonel Zector is working with some engineers to figure out the problem. Please, come with me to the interrogation hall. There's, something we need you to see."

The hedgehog didn't understand what that meant. He wanted to bash his head through the wall.

What was wrong _this_ time?

* * *

As the Tornado flew across the skies, Tails solemnly looked below at the streets. He couldn't bare to watch anyone else stab or shoot someone, so he adverted his eyes the second he even considered looking down. He shook his head to void his mind of any negative thoughts, and tried to keep himself headstrong. He glanced over his shoulder to see Knuckles securely holding Cream, and Amy holding onto the wing while covering her face with her arm. She was probably crying. He then glanced at the passengers seats, seeing the two older women passed out. He clenched his eyes shut and turned back around. This was getting harder and harder. How did Sonic do this all the time? How did he stand holding in so much pressure?

He wanted his big brother to come back, to make everything right again. He wanted him to make all of this go away already. If this went on any further, he was going to break. But, he couldn't do that. Sonic would be disappointed. All he had to do was get everybody back to GUN HQ and try to get the network back online. As he flew passed buildings, he realized there were broken pieces of radios on the roofs. Rouge and Amy did good work. And hey, Scourge may have been a hacker, but he couldn't have been better than him.

They still had a chance, he just needed to look on the bright side. Everything would work out like always-

"What the..!?" Something just violently shook the plane.

He heard the echidna make some disgruntled noises and shouted to him. "Tails, what the hell!?"

The fox whipped his head from behind, and saw smoke shooting from the wing Amy was riding on. She was so frightened, she couldn't even scream, but her expression was horrified. The entire aircraft was shaking, and Tails was starting to lose control. He desperately grabbed the control sticks and tried to lift them up, but they were falling down. He scowled. He just fixed this damn thing, why did it have to malfunction now!? Someone had to have shot them, but who? With what weapon to do _that_ much damage? He looked at his dashboard, pushing some commands to open a screen beside his controls. It was a scanner, with a map of the entire city. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary. His plane could detect weapons or upcoming enemies, but the scanner wasn't showing anything. Sirens began blaring inside of the plane. Tails' ears flattened, it was loud but that meant this thing was going to crash for sure!

"Tails!" He heard Knuckles holler his name again.

"Ahh!" Amy screamed, holding onto the wing by her fingers. She was slipping off, and Knuckles couldn't get to her without falling off himself, or dropping Cream. " _Help!_ " She cried. "Tails, please!"

Damn it! There was no way he could land this thing safely! There was nothing but buildings, towers and apartments around! If he even attempted at landing on a street, he'd destroy dozens of blocks and end up killing everyone on board, including himself. His eyes darted around on his dashboard, desperate to find a way to get himself out of this mess. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Knuckles grit his teeth and climb forward on the Tornado. Trying to keep his balance from the shoving winds, he managed to jump and land on top of Tails' pilot window. While still holding onto Cream with one arm, he slammed his fists into the glass. "Tails, what the hell happened!?"

"I-I don't know! Something rammed into the right wing, I can't get control!"

"If you don't do something quick, we're all going to die!"

"I _know_ that!"

With a grunt, the echidna demanded the kitsune to open the window. "Open up!"

Tails did as he was told with a skeptical expression, feeling the harsh air blow onto his face with the smell of smoke filling his nose. Knuckles suddenly tossed the bunny inside along with him, landing on top of him. With a yelp, Tails fell back in his seat with Cream sprawled in his lap. Knuckles forcefully grabbed the window and slammed it back down. He climbed over it and made his way back to the end of the plane, holding on for dear life. He climbed his way back to the now amber looking wing, seeing Amy cry out for help as she was about to slip off. He got on the wing, coughing as smoke pushed itself into his lungs. His eyes began to water, and he hacked even more. He reached his hand down to her, the heat of the growing fire of the damaged Tornado making him sweat.

"Grab my hand!"

The pink hedgehog whimpered, desperately holding her hand up to reach him. Her fingers were hurting and they were starting to bruise, she couldn't hang on. She was falling off, and she could feel her own weight pull her down. Her tears were blowing away from the winds, her face sniffling while pleading for Knuckles to get closer. "K-Knuckles..!"

Tails' blue eyes widened in fear. They were getting closer to the ground.

In just a few seconds they would die.

Just as he prepared himself for a fiery and painful impact, he felt something pushing them all back. Like an elevator stop, or those stomach dropping amusement park rides. He felt his own breath stop for a mere second, as something stopped the entire plane. It was like, time stopped them all in midair. Perplexed and very scared, Tails reached his hand up to his face to hold up his goggles. Then, he saw nothing but...Blue. A light, cyan blue. That looked like chaos energy almost. Tails' mouth dropped. He was here! He came back! He gently took Cream off of his body, and moved to pull himself out of the pilot seat. As his heart jumped for joy, he looked out across the aircraft-

-Only to see no one was there. No one, except a confused Knuckles, and a trembling Amy who was holding onto him. They both were looking around, wondering why they stopped. They weren't even on the ground, they literally stopped right before they landed. In fact, the smoke that was coming out of the plane stopped moving. It stopped flowing in the air. The fire that was growing even stopped flickering. The hell was going on? Tails frowned and looked below them. It was like they were trapped in one big bubble. Well, they were at a safe distance from the ground to jump down and get out of here. "Knuckles?" He called.

"Yeah?"

"Help me get everyone down. I don't think this force field is gonna stay up for long."

" _That's_ what this is?"

"I dunno, that's what it looks like to me. Kinda looks like chaos energy."

"Yeah, something Sonic or Shadow would do." The red echidna huffed and lifted Amy up on his back, with her yelping. He jumped down, phasing right through the force field, and put her down. He jumped back up on the plane, phasing right back in to go and help Tails. Amy, though still shaken up, raised a brow. That didn't seem right. What was this? One by one, Knuckles carried the two women off of the Tornado, and running away from the area by a few yards. "Come on, Amy!" Hearing him yell her name made her blink and run after him to follow. She looked back while sprinting, watching Tails carry Cream out of the plane and jump down. He carried her in her arms, panting as he ran the same way they did.

Wait a minute, why were they running away? "Why are we running?" She shouted to Tails.

"I've seen Sonic use that kind of power before when he turns super. It stops time of any object the user chooses, but it doesn't work for that long! It's gonna crash and blow up, so just run!" He warned loudly.

"Oh crap." Amy muttered to herself.

The force field began to fade away, and the three conscious Mobians were only inches away from an upcoming disaster. Tails bit his lip and whirled his namesakes behind himself to push himself to go faster. The Tornado began falling, and the smoke began to flow into the air. Soon, it fell down onto the streets, knocking into nearby buildings with it's large size. The fire began to grow bigger, and caused the mechanical bird to spark. With the eerie cry of a dying machine, it exploded, with both the sound and radius of the explosion resonating far and wide. The impact blew Tails off of his feet, knocking into Amy and falling down while rolling on the concrete. He kept his arms around Cream as he rolled, making it so that he took the brunt of damage from landing. Amy cried out as she was knocked into, falling down on her side harshly. Knuckles lost his balance a bit, but wasn't nearly as hurt as the others.

With a curse, he put down Vanilla and Rouge and ran to the younger ones. He helped Amy up first, who quickly thanked him while dusting herself off. Knuckles then ran to Tails and Cream, trying to make the fox sit up. Thankfully, he didn't get knocked out, and sat up quickly. He looked down below him and checked on Cream. He made a gasp of relief when he saw her chest move up and down. The echidna just blew out a stressful sigh of air, putting a hand on the kid's shoulder. They were all okay. "If you died on my watch, that hedgehog would have given me hell."

With watering eyes, Tails only laughed. "Y-Yeah."

Suddenly, both Knuckles and Tails saw a flash of cyan blue light behind them. They looked over, around the same spot Knuckles ran to before the explosion. Amy was over there, and she looked really happy.

"O-Oh my," They heard a voice mumble. "What in the world?" It was soft and gentle. Tails stood up, holding Cream in his arms while smiling. He gestured for Knuckles to follow him, and moved his now sore legs to the pink hedgehog's side. Miss Vanilla was awake.

The middle aged bunny coughed while rubbing her eyes, and then her forehead. She saw old, browning blood on her fingers tips. She grimaced, and looked up to see Amy crying tears of joy. The woman began to smile, even as the girl's tears fell on her face. Amy grabbed her hand and slowly pulled her up on her feet. Vanilla gave her a hug, petting her head as she hugged the adult Mobian bunny tightly.

"Thank goodness you're okay, Amy. Cream and I were so-" She immediately let go of her. " _Cream!_ " She cried, whipping her head back and forth.

"No worries miss Vanilla, she's right here." Tails reassured happily. He walked over to her, showing her that her daughter was safe and sound in his embrace. She held her hands to her chest and sucked in a breath of relief. Thank goodness, she was okay. Tails then made some sounds of discomfort, and squeaked as a little chao flew out from the depths of his namesakes. That little thing was hiding there the whole time? He made little cheers 'Chao! Chao!', and flew to his best friend's mother. He hugged Vanilla's cheek, and she giggled at his return.

"Rouge?" They heard Knuckles call. "Come on bat girl, wake up!" He said roughly as he shook her shoulders. The white bat in question made a few grumbles, before fluttering her eyes open and looking around her.

Everyone peered over her in worry, and she stared at them.

With now squinted eyes, she face palmed her self, and then hissed from a faint migraine.

"How the hell do I get myself in these situations..?" She murmured.

* * *

 **END - 21**

 **Yes, the Tornado has been destroyed once again.**

 **No bonuses today, but I hope you enjoyed regardless.**

 **Please review, I always read every single one. They mean a lot.**

 **Thank you. Happy Holidays, everyone.**


	24. Immortality

**Warning, suicide attempt and other multiple suicides.**

 **22 - Immortality**

* * *

Shadow glared at the odd plate of food, and poked it with a silver fork. Once he did, his blue partner quickly reached out and grabbed his hand to stop him from doing it again. Sonic shook his head at him while wagging his finger. Feeling a bit patronized, he scoffed at him. The blue hedgehog put his hand down while chuckling. "Sorry, but you can't do that."

"Says who?"

"Says me." He rolled his eyes. "You're gonna piss off the cooks. It's disrespectful to poke at it like that, and you have to eat it in one bite." He advised. His explanation was lost on the biohog, and he even felt a bit infuriated by such instructions.

"One bite? I don't even know what the hell this is."

"It's sushi, you weirdo!"

"I know what it's called, but I don't know what this thing is."

"It's a maki roll, I told you already. Rice and raw vegetables, you know the deal." Seeing the disapproving look on Shadow's face, he sighed and held up a pair of chopsticks. He held up a piece of his own sushi and made his other hand caress underneath Shadow's muzzle. He dipped the raw food in a small bowl of soy sauce. Then, he gently tilted Shadow's chin back a bit, while holding up the sushi. "Here, just open up. I'll feed you." The feeling of his peach warm hand holding his cheek ever so softly made him feel, a bit embarrassed. He was going to feed him? Didn't mothers do that to their infant children? His thumb was starting to get closer to his lips, pressing onto the bottom of his mouth. Sonic lowered his eyes, slightly smirking as he pushed the small portion of sushi closer to his face.

He could tell from the look on his face that he wouldn't stop grinning like that until he took a bite. With a silent huff, he looked somewhere else and slightly opened his mouth. He could feel the moist sustenance hit the surface of his lips, making him open up a little more with a disgruntled expression. The tips of the chopsticks and the entire piece of sushi entered his mouth. Once fully in, Sonic took his chopsticks away and awaited Shadow's response to the food. The black and red striped hedgehog slowly chewed, quite disturbed by the sushi's texture. Letting the crunch of vegetables waft another wave of flavor onto his tongue, he realized that it wasn't _that_ bad.

It was just, weird.

He swallowed, looking down at Sonic's small plate where the sushi originally came from. "It was, alright."

"Heheh. Yeah, it's weird at first. But your second try'll be better, I promise." He smiled as he held up the chopsticks that were just previously in Shadow's mouth, and placed it in his own mouth. Not expecting that, Shadow's ruby eyes widened. He could ever so slightly hear him suck against the tips of the sticks where soy sauce was. He continued to smile at him like he did nothing wrong while slipping them out from between his now pink tinted lips. He twirled them in his hand and winked at him. "Soy sauce makes it better though."

"...You are one dirty kid."

"Kid? I'm almost twenty one, thank you very much."

"Yeah whatever, you know exactly what you just did."

"Hm? What did I do?"

"You're testing me again."

The hero laughed. "Heheheh!"

It's been two days already, and this was their fourth date. They had one at noon, and one in the evening. It was nice spending time together like an actual couple, and not just crammed in a bedroom for hours at a time. Sonic loved spending time with the cynical biohog, and Shadow enjoyed wasting the day away with his optimistic hero. They just clicked well with anything they tried, and most of the time they had completely different views on something. For example, Shadow never tried sushi and obviously wasn't that big on raw food. Sonic loved sushi, but he also liked the experience they just had.

Shadow never got out and enjoyed activities before, and Sonic loved introducing him to new things. Even if Shadow didn't like it, the experience itself made everything worth while. And sometimes, Shadow would purposely play dumb about certain things, just to have Sonic show him how something worked out. Why? Because he loved seeing how much Sonic smiled when telling him about something. He just liked to see him happy.

It was a win-win for the both of them, and they couldn't wait to do more together.

* * *

He watched the couple walk out from the sushi bar, with Blue leaning against Stripes like some love-stricken Japanese school girl. God they made him sick. As he leaned against the wall of the bar with his hat tipped forward, he glared at them as they walked passed him. It's already been two days, and the day of reckoning was almost upon them. Yes, the day after tomorrow would be his time to start it all. A full scale war, a world war. Yes, that'd be a wonderful sight. Soon, everyone would get what was coming to them. Things would finally _stop turning_ , and he could end it all. Even if he failed, and even if Sonic _did_ kill him, it wouldn't matter. He'd make it so that Sonic wouldn't be able to live, either.

But for now, he needed to think about the next little prank he was about to pull. He was already snickering to himself, this was gonna be a riot!

So without a word or a sound, he got off of the wall and began walking in the same direction as them. He saw them stroll into a spa. Guess they wanted to relax for a bit. Too bad for them, he was about to ruin their day.

As the sunshine was blocked from his hat, his sneer was hidden from the shade of his fedora.

He couldn't wait to see the look on his face.

Just as he quietly slipped into a backstreet, something stopped him. "Halt!" He heard an authority figure say. He groaned, he hated cops. He rolled his eyes and held up his hands while turning around slowly. He cleared his throat, feeling his chaos power adjusting and changing his vocal cords.

"Is there a problem, officer?"

The zone cop, a short canary with that stupid black uniform. Then again, the upgrade was actually kinda cool. They looked a lot better than those old dorky uniforms. On his chest was a small medal. He must be a rookie or private. "I don't believe I've seen you around before. In fact, you're the only face that I don't recognize, and I don't remember you showing me an ID these past couple of days. May I please see some identification?"

"Erm," Scourge lowered his eyes. He could hypnotize him, but someone would easily realize there was something wrong with him. They'd report it to ol' Robocop back in HQ, and they'd be on the look out for Scourge. He couldn't let anyone be on high alert right now, not yet. "I'm afraid I left it at home, sir."

The officer began taking a pair of advanced looking handcuffs from behind his back on his belt. "Then I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to-"

"Oops! My bad officer, I must have misplaced it." Scourge smirked before reeling his leg backwards. "'Cause my ID was right _here!_ " He exclaimed as he swung his foot right into the soldier's helmet. The force of the kick was so strong, the soldier's helmet fell right off. The helmet flew and slammed into the wall. The canary was going to cry out in pain, until Scourge swiftly moved behind the bird and shoved the palm of his hand onto his beak. He was grasped by the arms, pulled roughly against the wall. The anti in disguise chuckled darkly as he squeezed his fingers on his face, drawing blood. "Now lookie what we got here," He said as he held up a gun in one hand, while still holding the canary with the other. "A silencer? In my line of work, people who carry silencers are usually up to no good. Unless, you guys don't wanna cause a panic, should you have to shoot any interlopers on the days of your perfect little festival. So you carry the silencers to either neutralize or kill, keeping it all under the rug of your innocent and oblivious citizens." He tilted his head. "Right?"

The canary only glared at him, unable to move as his hand was still holding him still. His mouth was free, but he knew better than to yell for help.

"But ya know somethin'? It wouldn't matter even if you did shoot me." Scourge suddenly said, letting the canary go and shoving him onto the ground. He held up the gun to his head and smiled. "Take a gander, and watch for yourself." He then took the gun off of it's safety, and pressed his finger on the trigger.

A tiny bang hit the bird's ears, as no one else heard the gunshot. With wide eyes, he watched the criminal blow his own brains out, and drop to the ground.

But even as dark blood splattered on the wall, it began to dissolved. He slowly got up, standing tall as his head healed damaged vessels, bone, brains, tissue and veins. Scourge cracked his neck, and turned his head around a little to make sure everything was in good condition. He tossed the silencer somewhere and put his hands in his trench coat pockets. He stepped in front of the bird's face and knelt down. "That's right. _I can't die_. But I bet that if I did that to you with the bottom of my shoe, you wouldn't come back," He leaned in closer, his face darkening eerily. "Would ya?"

With trembling green eyes, the canary tried backing away on his hands into the wall. A shadow was looming over him, and he looked up with fear.

He tried to scream but, it was silenced with the crunch of a boot falling onto his head.

* * *

No one saw the person who put a force field over them. No one saw the person who shot them down, or the person who tried to help them. Tails thought it might have been Sonic but, Knuckles said that wasn't possible. Knuckles may not have been a chaos user like the other two hedgehogs, but he could easily recognize it's energy after studying and being around chaos emeralds for so long. He could distinctively tell the difference between Sonic's energy or Shadow's energy. That force field, was _neither_. Tails asked the guardian several times if he was sure, and Amy even asked with skepticism. But regardless, Knuckles assured them that this was the truth.

Neither Sonic or Shadow was here, and neither of them made that force field.

Tails suddenly felt something weigh heavily on his head.

...They weren't coming back. They would never come back. They might have already been killed, they might already be dead, rotting away. They failed, and soon everyone else would meet the same fate. All of this was for nothing. They were all going to die soon, and Scourge was torturing them. He knew they would all crumble like this, like his used up toys.

He decided to keep these thoughts to himself, for now.

With the plane destroyed and their spirits down, the group traveled on foot out of Twinkle Park. Knuckles took the liberty of carrying Cream on his back, while Vanilla aided Rouge in walking just in case she needed someone to lean on. She was still limping, and her head was spinning. Cheese was sitting atop Amy's head, looking around as she walked. Tails noticed that the adult bunny was barefoot. Before they started walking, Vanilla kicked her heels off. She said they would just get in the way and make her trip if she needed to run. Amy's eyes sparkled when she did that. Speaking of the pink hedgehog, she broke the silence and looked over at the kitsune.

"What are we gonna do now?"

"Plan still hasn't changed." Tails replied. "We get to GUN HQ, and I'll work on getting the network back up to stop his control."

"But Tails, that's miles away from here. I mean, we can make it on foot no problem but," She frowned worriedly. "If we run into another crowd, we might not make it."

"..." Tails didn't say anything back to that.

Knuckles said something instead with a scoff. "It won't get to that."

Amy sucked her teeth at his retort. "You don't know that!"

"It won't."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Because no one here is gonna let that happen. I'm gonna keep fighting until I die, and I'm not gonna give up just because there's a few groups of pissed off murderous Mobians running around." Knuckles make a stoic expression, shifting Cream's position behind him. "There's already enough pressure, and I'm sure everybody here is worried sick about what may or may not happen from here on out. But that's not gonna stop me from protecting everyone. No offense girl, but besides you, there's children here. That in itself is driving me to push forward no matter what."

Even though Amy wanted to say something back, she kept her mouth shut for now.

"We've got a mother and a daughter here." He stated strongly. He glanced at Vanilla and Rouge who were looking back at him. "I know more than anything that she'll fight tooth and nail for Cream, so there's no reason not to give it our all too." He glared at Amy and grunted. "Got it? Quit worrying about crap like that and just keep moving!"

The girl bit her tongue and looked away. He was right, but that still didn't change the fact that they could get ambushed at any second. They were vulnerable, and they had wounded people that took up a majority of their group. Of course, he wouldn't listen. But, would it even matter if he did? They still wouldn't be able to do something. If an ambush came, they'd be screwed whether he listened to her or not. So she just kept silent and did as he said: Keep moving.

"Way to ruin a girl's day, red." Rouge commented while rubbing her fingers on her temple.

"What?" Knuckles growled at her sarcasm. Now wasn't the time.

"Before you bite my head off, just shut up and listen for a sec." She growled right back. After she did so, she caught Vanilla chuckling at their banter. "Anyway Pinky, why don't you tell fox boy what we saw before that twerp kicked us off the roof?" She said while narrowing her eyes at Amy. She caught on to what she was trying to say, nodding before looking over at Tails.

"Tails! When Rouge and I were smashing the radios, we saw a piece make some red sparks. We think they're all powered by electrical chaos energy." She started to crack a smile while holding her fists up excitedly. "Rouge told me Shadow said that if something were to interfere with the chaos user and a chaotic connection, it could hurt the user! Meaning, that if you hack into network thingy and bring it down, you can really hurt him!" She cheered. However, her smile was flat lining quickly. "But, he warped away to another zone. So he's gone and, we don't know if it'll still effect him."

The fox just closed his eyes, and he stopped walking. Soon, the group stopped walking as well once they realized Tails didn't look too good. The orange fox's mouth shuddered as he walked over to a nearby destroyed building, and held up a hand on the wall. He gasped, sucking a breath in. He held a hand on his stomach, coughing. Amy ran to him as the others watched. Vanilla's motherly instincts were telling her to run over there, and lay him down with his head resting on her thigh. But she had to make sure Rouge was alright, and she trusted Amy to take care of the boy herself.

"T-Tails! Are you okay?" She figured he needed to puke after everything they've seen, so she patted his back. "It's okay, just let it out and-"

"I can't do it." He whispered.

"What..? No, Tails, you're gonna be fine. I was just being a worry-wort! Don't pay it any mind-"

" _I can't..._ " He punched his fist into the wall. "What if he never comes back? What if he killed him?"

" _No!_ Don't think like that! Sonic is fine! That bastard couldn't have killed him! He'd have to get through Shadow first, and you saw how that went down!"

The twelve year old instantly cut her off with cruel logic. "Shadow lost against him. If it wasn't for Sonic snapping out of his dark form, and if it wasn't for Scourge's power weakening his body, he would have killed all of us if he wanted."

Amy made a sound of disappointment. "Tails, listen to yourself! You don't even sound like your-"

"Sound like _what?!_ " He snapped and turned himself around, just to yell right in her face. His sudden release of emotion, made his voice heavy with hidden rage and evident aggression. "Like Sonic? Like Knuckles? I-!" He sucked in a deep breath, looking down at the ground as tears poured from his face. He didn't sniffle, he didn't even blink. He didn't shudder or turn away. He wasn't even shameful of his outburst in front of anyone. He didn't care. He didn't care about anything. "I-I..." He held up his hand and gripped his own hair. "Look, I'm sorry." He said with a voice that was a little less hostile. "But I can't be that optimistic kid anymore." He looked Amy in the eyes, and he caught the others slowly coming closer to them. "We've all lost it by now. The will to go on with," He held up his hand to the side, gesturing to the piles of corpses just a few blocks away. " _This._ You all act like everything's fine, like everything's going to be okay, when it probably won't." He turned his back towards them, facing the wall once again while looking down at his shoes.

Knuckles grunted at this. "Guess Amy really did mess up your head. You shouldn't be acting like this now. You can't shut down like this! Not when we're this close to stopping him." His purple eyes held compassion, but it also held a sense of duty. He knew for sure Sonic would hate to see his kid acting like this, he had to say something to get him back on track.

"Tch," Tails scoffed. "So I take the network from his control and bring it back on our side. So what?" He hissed as his eyes flickered red. He tilted his head to the side, revealing one of his know red swirling eyes to Amy. The girl in red gasped at what she saw, seeing that evil vortex take over her friend. Tails exhaled and shook his head. "Let's say it does hurt him. Heck, let's say it'll kill him. Let's say I finally did the deed, and he'd never bother us again." He started to chuckle. "So what!?" He yelled. "Almost everyone in Station Square is dead. Everyone in Twinkle Park is dead. The Chaotix is probably dead, the Babylon Rouges are probably getting killed right now!" He started to laugh as he brought both of his hands up to his head, pulling at his fur with a wide grin. "It all doesn't matter! Don't you understand!? We're all going to die here!" He screamed. "Sonic is _dead!_ Shadow is dead! Our hero is finally gone, so what are we to do?! Nothing! We can't fend for ourselves! We're nothing without him! So why fight it!? _Hahaha!_ "

The pink hedgehog held her hand up to her mouth, now at a loss for words. Her deep green eyes was moist, but she couldn't cry anymore. She was so tired of crying, that she couldn't even shed any tears at the sight of her friend losing his mind. Rouge wanted to say something, but she couldn't muster the strength to try and fight back against this sudden feeling of despair. Knuckles' fists were clenched, agape at Tails' spiral into madness. He was losing him, they were losing him to Scourge's power.

"Heheheh," Tails smirked. "What, you thought we were the only ones immune to this stuff? Of course not. Only someone as stupid as you would think so, Amy." They could all see red aura engulfing his entire body. "We're all going to succumb to him. One way or another, sooner or later, you're all going to lose what little ounce of hope you have left." His baby blue eyes, his caring smile was erased permanently. "It's called facing _reality._ "

After a few seconds of silence, Tails watched Amy draw her fist back and shove her knuckles right into his left cheek.

* * *

"I'm sorry, let me get this straight," Zonic sighed gruelingly as he stared at the four soldiers acting like fools behind the one way glass. They were in the interrogation room, which was completely white. Why white? Well, it was a mental tactic Counselor Zouge suggested. A 'white box' tactic, which was a psychological torture method the warden used to practice. He's the one who recommended it to her, actually. The one way glass was a factor in this, as any person for questioning who was on the other side wouldn't be able to see the people questioning them. Now this part in particular was only used on people who couldn't behave, which is why four of his formerly missing men were behind the glass, in a walled off portion of the room. "While on patrol, Colonel Zector spotted my missing men wandering around the docks of our navy ships, and escorted them to HQ. But then they started acting unruly, forcing him to place them in the interrogation room of the prison. Not only that, but for some reason everyone's transmitters are offline, and they're all acting worse." He turned to his right to face Zespio and Zector, who both bowed in respect along with the other soldiers who accompanied them.

"Yes, lieutenant general." They said simultaneously.

The soldiers behind the glass were slamming on the glass, acting as if they were popping invisible bubbles or rolled on the floor. They were acting like complete animals. No pun intended. Zonic was already down here days ago from Zespio's request, but then the doctors turned him away, saying they had to check them out first and see if something was causing them to act like this. Like a chemical or drug.

"Ugh, Chaos.." Zonic groaned while pinching his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Someone fetch Counselor Zouge for me, please."

Zector stood up tall while saluting his boss. "I've already checked by her officer, sir, and she should be arriving shortly."

The sound of a woman's pair of heels clicking against the smooth floors of their halls, alerted everyone's attention. Seeing a well proportioned figure with fat in all the right places, heads already began to turn. A white ivory bat with light blue eye make up, and light pink lip gloss with gentle aquamarine irises, walked down the hall of the investigation ward in their direction. She wore a beige business suit, with black heels and a white tie. Her cleavage wasn't hidden from anyone, and was proudly shown to all. A white dress shirt underneath was unbuttoned, and her tie was tucked in between her breasts.

Zonic caught Zector mentally fighting himself not to look, as were other male soldiers. All Zonic could do was roll his eyes. He thought he told that woman she had to cover some of that up before coming into work. No wonder therapy with most of the inmates went so well. "Counselor Zouge, I told you-"

"Hm? Told me what?" She asked absentmindedly. The crocodile nearly had a heart attack from her oblivious nature.

"..Nevermind." The hedgehog began to growl with frustration. "I require your assistance." He crossed his arms below his chest and looked over to the one way glass. "The missing men that I previously sent on a search party along with commander Zhadow, are completely out of their minds. I need you to try and get them to calm down, before we resort to physical measures."

She looked over at the one way glass, and frowned. Zonic had a whole hot-mess of these guys, and she could tell they wouldn't listen. The only female of the group looked like she had it the worst, making howls at the ceiling like she was a woof. She wasn't even a wolf, she was ironically a sheep. So most of her howls sounded more like loud 'baah's. Zouge remembered that she was one of Zonic's best females officers, and one of Zhadow's favorite comrades. He'd always pick her before anyone else to join him on a mission. Besides him, she was tougher than anyone else in his team. And here she was, 'howling' to the walls like a maniac. But it wasn't just her. All of the soldiers in this room were excellent officers, and great assets to No Zone. They all had families and spouses to go to, so they couldn't leave them like this. They all still had their helmets on, as Zector had mentioned they refused to take off their uniforms.

They weren't drunk, and they weren't high. Zector said they were clean of any kind of illegal substances. This was just them, acting insane. Something else was at work here, and she needed to pull some information.

The bat took a deep breath and nodded to Zonic. That she was ready, and she wanted to get closer to talk with them. Zonic understood what that meant, and moved away to give her some space. Zector went to the wall near the one way glass, where a small button was installed. He pressed it, and saw a layer of the glass lift up into the ceiling. The one way glass was gone, and now there was only the surface of a normal two-way reflection. There were hidden cameras, microphones and speakers all throughout the room, so they would be able to hear her and they would be able to hear them. The commander stood by the rest of his men, while he allowed the counselor to work her magic.

"Talking normally to them won't do a thing. I have to use a more extreme method, if that's alright with you, sir." She said cautiously before pulling down her white undershirt, pushing aside her tie.

"Do whatever it takes." He ordered.

"Yes, sir." Zouge replied loyally as she pulled out two tiny metallic stress balls. They were smaller than her palm, even punier than normal meditation balls. Everyone in the room knew exactly what she was going to try to do. "All of you are acting really silly. Don't you realize you're all making yourselves look like idiots?" She asked loudly, making sure the sound of the stress balls grinding against each other was faint. "You're embarrassing yourselves in front of the lieutenant general. You all could lose your jobs, you understand?" She asked with the exact same tone as before, if not gentler. It was as if her voice was growing softer, and the sound of the grinding metallic balls were getting louder.

In minutes, the officers behind the glass stopped all of their movements. They all paused, and pointed their attention directly at her.

"Commander Zhadow would be ashamed of you four." She whispered, hitting an emotionally vital portion of their brains. "What would he say to this?" She wondered aloud. Now, they would remember anything of what happened before they all went missing, and before they were all separated from each other. Before tragedy went down. She was breaking down their walls, as her voice seemed to disappear, and the sound of meditation balls grew even louder than silence. "I wonder, what happened to him? What happened to all of you? Tell me." She pleaded in a delicate voice, gripping her fingers against the metal objects harder.

They were crumbling. Some of them were falling to their knees, and some were crying. Zonic saw them put their hands up to their head and take off their helmets. They were dropped or tossed on the floors, revealing their faces. A sheep, a lion, a mouse and a lynx. Zector and Zespio glanced at each other, before looking back at the one way glass. The sheep was crying, covering her face with one arm, while the others either cried along with her, or looked ashamed of themselves. They looked as if they had given up. Something awful happened to them.

Whatever the problem was, it was gone. They were back to their normal selves. Zonic held in a sigh of relief, as he didn't want to jinx the situation.

Zouge smiled as she looked over her work. It was working. "I taught myself a new method of hypnosis. It helps people fall out of madness, or trances. You all were under some kind of spell, but I broke you away. Are you able to talk now?" She asked nicely as she stopped swishing the balls in her hand. She placed them back in the bra of her chest, and held her hands behind her back.

Zonic then stepped in. "Are you all alright?" He asked with genuine concern. "Why don't we take you all to the Soft Room?"

"No." They heard one of them refuse. It was the sheep, Zhadow's captain. She slowly shook her head, her face stained with not just tears, but old blood and dirt. The others had similar stains on their faces, and a few faint blotches of unknown substances on their uniforms.

"We, can't go back." Another said. That was the lynx, this time. He was sitting next to the sheep, quietly crying next to her.

"..?" Zonic squinted his eyes. "Go back to what? None of you are making any sense. Please, let us help you." He walked a few steps closer. "You remember us, right? Me, Zonic?" He pointed to himself. "Remember, you used to pick on me when I was a little younger?" He said fondly as he remembered the times they all teased him for being the weakest in the force. Once they saw the same potential Zhadow saw in him, they gave him hope that he could be better. While Zhadow was the brunt of his reformation, they helped him along the way too. "You used to call me 'Over-Achiever', instead of Overseer because I was a workaholic. Only you four, and Zhadow were trusted with knowing who I really was."

The second he inched closer, the sheep screamed and backed away into the wall while kicking.

This made Zonic wince and rear his body backwards from the glass. "Chaos." He uttered. "Please, calm down-"

"No! You don't understand!" She cried, violently shaking her head back and forth. "We're all done for! We're all going to die, one way or another! W-We all have to face reality, commander!"

Zonic just, couldn't understand what that meant. He turned to Zouge for help, but she didn't understand any of this either.

The lion pulled over his own helmet, while the mouse took everyone else's and sat the four head garments together on the floor. As they all huddled by the circle of helmets, the mouse began pressing buttons into them. After shifting his mouth from side to side, the lion sadly looked up to his boss. "We weren't strong enough, sir. We're sorry, but we aren't strong enough to deal with this either. We _have_ to do this." As the big cat said this, the sheep, lnyx and mouse all faced their commander one last time, a familiar red glinting in their irises. "It was fun, working for you and Zhadow. Watching you grow up. Goodbye, commander." They stood up together in unison, and placed their helmets back on with them constantly flickering and beeping. Their arms were hooked together like friendly strangers at a campfire. Despite the size, despite the gender and despite the species, they all joined together like the best of friends.

They held up their arms, and saluted them all.

The helmets, were starting to smoke and burn. They were turning red, just like Zonic's control gauntlet from the other day.

His eyes shrunk.

"Get that damn door open _right now!_ " He hollered.

Everyone locked eyes with their commander in fear. Zector huffed and made the first move to rush to the door of the glass. He ran to the door that camouflaged itself with the rest of the glass, which stood by a control panel. Zector pressed the necessary code, and the door beeped. It began to push open automatically, and he mentally prayed to himself that he wasn't too late-

...

...Their heads exploded.

Blood and chunks of brains and tissue of muscle meat, flew alongside shards of glass.

Zonic, Zouge and Zector were thrown away by the force of the explosions. Blood splattered onto them, as one of the decapitated heads rolled across the floor. The helmet nearly blown into pieces, with almost nothing left of their face intact. It was at Zonic's foot, the remains of the head of the mouse. With eyes that were far too terrified to react, Zonic steadily sat up, and looked down below him.

 _That was one of my men._

 _That...used to be my..._

 _Something...is dreadfully wrong..._

He, couldn't react to this.

He couldn't scream, he couldn't cry or yell...he..

...

* * *

With a dark expression on his face, Zonic was escorted to his office.

The warden heard of the incident immediately and put the entire building on lockdown, but made sure to keep this away from the public. It'd put everyone in a panic, which would cause even more damage to everyone in No Zone. Zector and Counselor Zouge were taken to the medical ward, but Zonic refused to go. He just whispered that, he just wanted to be alone in his office. Zespio personally took him there, and even locked the door before leaving so no one would bother him.

Now in solitude, Zonic just sat there in his chair, looking at nothing.

He just, witnessed a mass suicide.

By his own men, no less. People who he knew, trusted and valued more than soldiers. They were his friends, too. Unlike Zhadow, they were actually dead now.

The fuck could he do about _that_? What was he supposed to do? The entire HQ was in a panic, and people were demanding how and why it even happened. But he couldn't even give those answers. He had no idea why they did that. Before they died, he saw their eyes glow red, which was Scourge's power but, was that the sole reason as to why they killed themselves? They sounded as if they were tormented, that they couldn't go on with living free from his control. It was like, they felt they had to die. That even if they broke control from him, more misfortune would happen.

That son of a bitch made it so that they couldn't go on with living an ultimatum. He made it so that they couldn't keep living for him, or against him.

What did he do? What did he make them see?

 _Why?_

As a few emotionless tears dripped from his face, Zonic stood up and walked to the Room of Realities. He unlocked the door, and stepped inside. He closed the door behind him, and glanced up at the monitors full of static. He felt that he would get some kind of answer from them. He didn't know why but, he just needed some kind of distraction. Even if it's as dumb as staring at some broken TV's.

Then, it turned black.

"..!"

Every single monitor turned black, and words began appearing on the screens at the same time.

After blinking a few times, Zonic looked all around. All of the monitors were viewing the same thing.

 _I_WILL_AID_YOU_OVERSEER_

Zonic clenched his teeth angrily. How the hell would some stranger know he was an Overseer? "Who are you?" He seethed. "Are you the anti-Sonic? Show yourself!"

 _I_WILL_REVEAL_MYSELF_ IN_DUE_TIME_UNTIL_THEN_YOU_MUST_COMPREHEND_EVERYTHING_I_SAY_

With a snarl, he stayed quiet shut for now.

 _I_SEE_WHY_YOU_WOULD_IGNORANTLY_ASSUME_THAT_I_AM_THE_ANTI-_SONIC_BUT_I_ASSURE_YOU_THAT_ISN'T_THE_CASE_

 _THE_ENCRYPTIONS_ON_YOUR_MONITORS_WERE_VERY_POWERFUL_BUT_LUCKILY_FOR_YOU_I_CAN_READ_CHAOTIC_CODE_

"Why are you helping me?" He asked curtly.

 _THAT_INFORMATION_IS_NOT_OF_ANY_REVELVANCE_TO_YOU_FOR_NOW_

 _NOW_PAY_ATTENTION_

 _IN_EXACTLY_ONE_MINUTE_AND_THREE_SECONDS_AN_ANTI_MOBIAN_WILL_CALL_YOU_AND_PROVIDE_VITAL_INFORMATION_ON_THE_ANTI-_SONIC_

 _NO_ONE_KNOWS_ OF_MY_EXISTENCE_AND_THEY_DON'T_EITHER_ __THEY_ARE_NOT_CONTACTING_YOU_ON_MY_BEHALF_

 _SEE_TO_IT_THAT_YOU_LISTEN_WELL_

 _GOODBYE_FOR_NOW_OVERSEER_AND_GOOD_LUCK_

And with that, peaceful images appeared on the previously broken monitors, while the rest went back to their original feed. As Zonic racked his brain to try and figure out who that was who messaged him, he only came up short with nothing. Who the hell was that, and why were they helping him?

Then, another video showed up on Mobius Prime's monitors.

And how the hell were people hacking in on his universal satellite feeds?

The person who was on camera, looked strikingly similar to Miles Prime. With that odd red and gray uniform and that grey hair, that only meant one thing. This was the anti Mobian the mysterious messenger told him about. It's been exactly a minute, and three seconds. Speechless, Zonic just allowed the fox on the other side to speak.

 _"Finally, I'm online. Lieutenant General Zonic? I need a word with you."_

* * *

 **END - 22**

 **That's right.**

 **Scourge is..."immortal", Tails succumbed to madness, and Zonic's missing men committed a gore-filled suicide.**

 **At the very end, someone contacted him. Two people, in fact. The first person said they weren't Scourge, and mentioned that no one else knows who they are or that they even exist. How interesting.**

 **Hope you enjoyed, I'm sorry for making you wait. My depression is killing me and is making everything I do very difficult and slow. Please forgive me for the bullshit sob-story excuses, but that's the only reason why I haven't updated. I wanted to update it, but I just didn't find any motivation to do anything. It's hurting me to even write this author's note, because I just want to stay in bed and sleep for days and days.**

 **I'm working as hard as I can on the next chapter, please be patient if I once again fail to update next week.**

 **Here's the bonus, but it's only one.**

1\. Scourge is "immortal" and can't die. Sonic, well...Isn't, and can die almost just as easily as anyone else.

 ** _Please_ review, once again, they mean the world to me. Makes me a little happy even if it's just one.**

 **Be safe, have a good day or night.**


	25. Reason To Believe

**23 - Reason To Believe**

* * *

There are some people who enjoy having their lip bitten while kissing.

Sonic was one of those people.

Softly, Shadow's fanged teeth gently pressed against the blue one's peach bottom lip. Now slightly rosy from being bit, Sonic's mouth opened up more with a little whine. He was so deprived that he wanted something more. More than just Shadow's teasing, he needed his tongue. He saw Sonic reach his hands up to his body, pulling down the furred collar of his jacket. He even grabbed his hand and made him unzip his blue hoodie. After that, he made Shadow reach down so he could touch in between his legs.

"You know," Shadow whispered to him. "You're _really_ testing my fucking patience." He said roughly. "I'm so close to losing it and pinning you on the floor..." He growled as he cupped the blue one's crotch. Sonic silently gasped before chuckling to himself.

"Aha...Who knows? Nmm...Maybe this is part of the plan. Maybe I want you to-Ah..Do something to me later tonight." He smiled with ill will, knowing he was driving Shadow and even himself insane. "Just keep kissing me, and don't stop touching me."

"Looks like you've taken a liking to public indecency."

"Heh, I guess I have. Now less talkin'," He put his finger on Shadow's mouth. "And more smoochin'." He took his his hand from his lips and pressed his own onto his muzzle once more while closing his eyes.

They were making out in the park again. It was a little more risky here considering the festival was going on, and there was quite a number of people here. But here they were, sitting under the same tree they hid behind from before, kissing and touching each other. It's been three days into the festival now, and tonight would be the end of No Zone's celebration. Zonic said there'd be a big show tonight, and their entire military would be there again. They ate out together, played some games together, and just had a good time. Now this was a vacation Sonic needed. No worries, just having fun and relaxing with his partner.

Tonight they planned on going to one of the carnivals that opened up, seeing the final show from No Zone Corp, and finally going back to Zonic's apartment to turn in for the night. However, little did Shadow know, he was going to give it to him tonight. Yes, he was still a bit unsure thanks to his past, but, he had a good feeling about this. That's why he kept teasing him at every opportunity he got. He wanted to make it so that Shadow couldn't resist the second he gave him permission.

As Shadow pressed Sonic more into the tree bark behind him, the kiss intensified. His hand was roaming his arse, while his other held onto his shoulder to hold him up against the tree. The hero was rubbing his hand against the other's thigh, pressing it deeper until he reached a certain place. Shadow's breath hitched, making him take his tongue from out of his mouth and open his eye lids. He couldn't keep going. They were panting slowly, their faces pink and red. With a small drop of spit hanging off of Sonic's mouth, he looked a little lost. He didn't want to stop.

"We should stop." He said as he took his hands off of him, and even took the liberty of wiping Sonic's mouth with the back of his thumb. He then grasped his peach hands and gently moved them away.

Sonic made a small smile, he understood why. "I get it. It's probably best if we do. But," He got off of the ground and dusted himself off of any leaves or dirt that may have gotten on him. "Good things happen to those who wait, Shadow." He held out his hand for him to take.

Shadow took his hand and got up as well, adjusting his jacket back to the way it was. Sonic was doing the same, zipping his hoodie back up. Shadow leaned over, and gave him one last kiss. The younger hedgehog gladly kissed back, and did something Shadow didn't expect after he was done.

He hugged him.

Of course they usually ended up hugging while osculating but, it just seemed like he embraced him out of no where. He didn't put his arms around his neck, or press himself closer to get Shadow to place his hands on his waist. He hugged him like a friend. His head was nestled against his, his hands on his back as he continued to hold Shadow close. Why was he doing this? "We probably can't do stuff like this in public when we go back home."

Oh, so that's why he was doing this.

Hn...

His heart was way too sweet.

"Yeah. Probably not." Shadow reached his arms around him and did the same. This made Sonic smile, and close his eyes as he felt Shadow embrace him back. The hold felt so warm.

"You know, after a while, it felt like the connection from here to Mobius was messed up. I couldn't warp us back there if I wanted to now." He sighed and squeezed just a bit more. "I mean, Zonic's got warp rings to other realities for days, but, we can't leave yet until he figures things out. 'Sides, they're still broken anyway. I can't hep but feel so bad." His voice lowered, and became more quiet considerably. "Something bad happened. I know it did. And we're here havin' fun like nothing's goin' on." He stiffened. "I'm so freakin' worried but I know Zonic needs us here. I'm kinda mad at him too, for making us stay, but I don't want anything bad to happen here either."

Shadow placed his palm on the back of Sonic's head, making them nestle against each other even more. "I know what you mean, but I know the commander feels guilty about it. He knows we want to go back, and I think he knows you're mad at him for that. Like always, you're good at hiding your emotions." He began to pet the top of his head to comfort him. "He doesn't like it when you're upset at him."

"I know. He's a sweet guy underneath all those medals."

"I'm positive he is. But know that he wouldn't act so selfish if it wasn't for a good reason. He needs us, and we need to make sure nothing else happens." Shadow looked away from Sonic, looking at the several people running or walking around the park. They were enjoying themselves, holding balloons, or eating funnel cake. It would be evening soon, and the skies above them were almost turning orange. Soon, it would be night time. Soon, it would be tomorrow. _Tomorrow_ , supposedly the day Scourge would show his face. They would have a war on their hands. "Tomorrow, it's going to be all or nothing. Our Super forms are still gone, and the fate of our world is unknown, but we can't falter now. Because after tonight," He took his hands from around him and forced him to look up by firmly grabbing his shoulders. "We're going to take him on. It won't be easy, and I know for sure there's going to be some scale of devastation, but we're not going to let that happen. I need you to be how you've always been: _strong._ Understand?"

His voice held dignity and sympathy at the same time. His words were empowered and hard hitting, but so soft and welcoming. He was encouraging and optimistic, but realistic, too. Chaos, Sonic could feel his heart beating harder than normal. In fact, it felt almost unhealthy. But he couldn't help it, because Shadow was so good at talking. Just another reason why he fell for him.

"Y-Yeah." Sonic meekly whispered.

"Good." The dark one then stepped away and leaned back against the tree with his hands in his jacket pockets. He closed his eyes, and leaves fell from the gigantic plant as Sonic stood there with a loudly beating heart. Shadow could hear it, and it was a bit alarming, but he knew why. So he just smiled to himself and acted as if he didn't hear a thing.

"Hey, Shadow?"

"Hm?"

"What do you do when you're sad or worried?" Sonic walked over and leaned next to him. Well, more like against him.

What a curious question, Shadow thought. He opened an eye shortly before closing it back and holding his arm up to dig in his quills. He then pulled out what looked like an odd bracelet. He handed it over to Sonic before putting his hands back in his pockets. The young one was baffled with it. It was old and looked like some kind of weird technology. He had no idea what this thing was. "I got that from Gerald."

"S-Say what?" Sonic nearly dropped it in the grass. "Why would you let me hold something this important? I might break it!"

"It's already broken." Shadow shrugged. "It will never work again. Not even with chaos energy."

This made Sonic frown and glare his green eyes into the weird looking piece of metal. "What is this thing though? A bracelet?"

"Sort of." Shadow could feel himself smile as he felt some nostalgia. "Gerald put that on my wrist the second I was first created. It was an experimental gadget that measured my emotions and my abilities. I was never to take it off."

"That's, weird. Why?"

"Gerald wanted to see how I acted around Maria."

"Woah, it was for her?"

"Yes. He wanted to see how my emotions reacted to her, and how my abilities could help her." He looked over and pointed to the odd looking broken lights that were installed in the metal band. "These used to be lights that glowed a certain color depending on what I was doing around her. If I was angry or sad, it would turn red. If I was happy or content, it would turn green. If I let out some of my power, it would turn blue." He then allowed Sonic to continue examining it. "I was initially made to help fight her disease, so he wanted to see if I could release power or energy to help stop her ailments. Sometimes, I accidentally spread it to her, without even knowing. Even while we talked, I'd end up giving my power to her. And it even helped her sometimes." He turned his head back up at the sky, watching it collide with yellows and light pinks. "Of course, Gerald and I could only do so much. In the end, she died anyway." He exhaled and looked back over at Sonic, who was looking back at him with a solemn expression. "So whenever I feel really pissed or anxious, I take it out and look at it. I see all my failures, all my ruined promises, and the person who I used to be. I see my past. But then, I see her. Telling me that I'm different now, and that she's...Proud, I guess. That she's glad I ended up doing what she wanted in the end, even if she's no longer there to enjoy it."

For now, Sonic just let him talk. He didn't dare try and interrupt him now.

"I kept it all that time, even after I woke up from sleep. When I remembered everything, I knew for sure I had to continue keeping it safe, and hold onto it until I die." He saw Sonic give the broken device back to him, and Shadow put it back where it belonged.

"You never told me that." Sonic pointed out. "Then again, you always look sad when you bring her up."

Shadow closed his eyes again. "Yeah."

"That's, really cool of you." The hero complimented. Shadow was just like Zonic. It didn't seem like it at first, but they were both really sweet behind their masks. Like Sonic said, Shadow always looked sad after talking about Maria. The best thing to do, would be to change the subject. So with a smile, he pointed something else out. "But you know, you never tell me how it is working for GUN either. Like what you do, or your missions with Rouge and stuff."

"Oh Chaos.." Shadow sucked his teeth in disgust. "Don't even get me started."

Sonic grinned. "Heheh. They're that annoying, huh?"

"Annoying? More like idiotic, close minded and absolutely brain dead." He crossed his arms and scoffed. "When Rouge told me about the job, she definitely wasn't exaggerating. Those humans are fucking idiots."

"Hahaha! Geez, you dropped two F bombs already today."

"That damn commander...What I wouldn't give to strangle that piece of shit in his sleep-"

"Alright alright killer, calm down."

"Whatever, you asked. Those GUN bastards never changed." He shrugged. "Zonic is the perfect example of a leader, a real commander. Asshole could learn a thing or two from some animals."

Sonic acted as if his hand was burned, wringing it out with a playful hiss. "Oooooh, _damn_. Need ice much?"

"Oh shut up, faker."

"Heheheh!"

* * *

Wow, that punch Amy gave him, sure knocked him for a loop...

She hit him so hard that he was _...seeing nothing but..._

 _White...Black...Cyan..._

 _Everything was black._

 _He couldn't really see right. He felt strange power in his body, though. And he felt like he was in a space he didn't belong in. He felt like he could move in this void looking world. He took one step forward, and turned his head all around to see if he could catch anything from afar in the black darkness. He reached his hand up to see if he could feel a wall, the same way he felt some kind of floor. He wanted to speak and call out for anyone, but he knew his voice wouldn't reach anywhere. Where was he? How was he here? Who put him here, and why were they making him see this?_

 _Then, he saw something appear._

 _Something in the shape of a box or a big window, right in front of him. A scene was playing out. Amazing, it was like watching a movie from a projector on a screen. How was it here?_

 _It was, him. On the screen._

* * *

 _Tails remembered it like it was yesterday. He was visiting an old island, West Side Island. Sonic came with him, they were both coming to the island together to try and retrieve some old equipment he may have left here in his old house. Tails was about, ten years old. Sonic was seventeen, his birthday had just passed. He was getting taller and more mature looking everyday. At one time they were almost the same height, but now he was much taller than the fox. He was towering over him, watching over him like a literal bigger brother._

 _That day, maybe a week in while traveling the island together, Tails found some organic substances near his old home. He had went alone, to which Sonic didn't really like. Tails swore he'd be fine on his own, that nothing would happen. Even as he grounded the materials in his new granite mortar that Sonic bought for him, he felt like the day would go smoothly. He smiled as he mushed them up, examining the materials carefully. He wasn't quite good at medical practices yet, but he was practicing. That way, he would be both a master engineer, and a doctor. He smiled to himself. Sonic would be proud of that._

 _But then, he also remembered...The bullies came. The same ones from all those years ago. Hearing the snickering and footsteps rustling the lush green leaves of the ground, he dropped the bowl and stood up immediately. "Who's there?" He said cautiously. Then one by one, they all rushed up to him from their hiding spots behind the trees. They pushed him down and started to beat him up. They called him a freak, a mutant. Saying they missed beating him senseless and taking his things. Tails fought off one of them but, they managed to overpower him and make him pay for that. He hated the situation he put himself in. He sucked in a deep breath, mentally cursing himself for what he was about to do. But he had no choice, he remembered. He had to get out of that situation._

 _He refused to be a punching bag again, and he didn't intend to lose to those same bastards from before. So he did the only thing a troubled ten year old could do:_

 _Call for help._

 _Call for his big brother._

 _The second he screamed his name, the bullies stopped. Sonic's name went far and wide all across the world. They knew very well who he was and what his name meant. They backed off and Tails took that chance to run away. He hated that he still needed help, even now. So he sucked in his tears and ran a beeline for where and he and Sonic agreed to meet up. Once he got to him, he found the hedgehog getting some plants Tails requested for him to find in the Aquatic Ruins. He was careful of the water there. He told him everything that happened, shamefully. Understanding his frustration, Sonic hugged him close and told him to tell him where the bullies were._

 _Tails went back to where he left his granite mortar, having left it there from running away. But, it was gone. It wasn't on the ground where he left it. He groaned, realizing the bastards probably took it and dumped away what he was working on. Or just threw it all away. But before he could give up hope, the idiots appeared before him just to see Sonic. They were shocked that it was really him in the flesh. Haha, he recalled how polite the hedgehog was at first._

 _"_ _Hey guys, sorry to bother you but uh, I think you've got my buddy's mortar. You know, the stone bowl looking thing with the stick? Well," Sonic put his hand on Tails' shoulder and smiled. "He was working on somethin' real important. Can he have it back, please?"_

 _They couldn't say no to Mobius' hero. They easily gave it up, saying they didn't throw the stuff out that was in it. They were trying to figure out what Tails was trying to make. Sonic took it and gave it to Tails, quietly whispering to him that he'd have to work on it somewhere else. Preferably without people around. Then, he looked at the bullies and thanked them. "_ _Great! Thanks guys, really appreciate it."_

 _Then, he clearly recalled it all._

 _Sonic's face turned, rather agitated, but his voice still tried to sound civil. His eyes even seemed, a little wicked. "You guys get allowances?" He asked quietly. The other kids looked kinda confused, but answered truthfully. They nodded without saying a word. "Good," Sonic got down on his knees and put his hands on them, looking the kids dead in the eyes. "Give it to me. All of you. Now. Every penny."_

 _Tails remembered how strange it felt to hear Sonic talk so callously. He looked over at him, his expression basically asking 'what are you doing?' The bullies just said that it wasn't fair for him to just demand their pocket change like that. That was just mean, not like Sonic at all._

 _And then Sonic said something interesting. "Why not? You were just bullying Tails a second ago, so it's only fair that I take your lunch money in return." He disregarded their concerns. "You think that it isn't fair because as your everyday hero, I shouldn't be allowed to do that? You think mister Sonic doesn't get angry at the fact that you bullied_ my kid? _" When he said that last part, it made the kitsune shudder in fear. His voice was growing colder by the minute. "You think mister Sonic is supposed to show mercy to a couple of snot nosed pricks like you? Who's been torturing my little brother for years now? If anything, I oughta tell your folks and have them break every single thing you own. You can keep your crummy money, this was just a little lesson from yours truly." He spat before standing up and looking down on them all like dirt. "But should we find ourselves in this situation again, Tails won't be with me next time to hold me back, and it'll just be me. If you've got the guts to tell your parents, I'd like to have a nice long talk with them about the way you treat other kids." He began ushering Tails away, gently pushing him on his back to get him moving. "Oh and," Sonic looked behind him while walking. "These places are pretty dangerous. Be careful. 'Might not be able to save you if something were to happen."_

 _Those kids were so terrified by his threats, Tails never saw them again. Sonic was so, angry. It was unnerving. That same day, Tails thought it was best to just go home. That night, he woke up from his sleep in his bed. The fox stared up at the ceiling and sighed to himself. Sonic acted so weird. He never acted so cruel before._

 _That's when he appeared. Right on his windowsill._

 _He arrived with a loud thump. It was as if he came from the skies and landed right on his open window. His fur was almost as dark as ebony, and his quills were upright. His legs were bent, kneeling as he tried not to bump his head in the space of the crammed opening. With fearful eyes, Tails saw him push the curtain back so he could look over him on the bed. When he realized Tails was awake, he cursed under his breath. "Shit." He made a move to try and jump out, but Tails was already on his feet while backing up. He saw the hedgehog sigh heavily and scratch behind his head while looking somewhere else. "I thought you'd be asleep. I'll leave, just forget you saw me like this."_

 _"Why are you here?" Tails whispered.  
_

 _"Look, after I dropped you off at home, I found out Eggman was up to no good. So I found one of his bases by myself and, well, he had a plan to make me like this and use it against me. As you can see," He held up his hands and directed them to himself as a gesture. "Didn't work out in his favor."_

 _"I-Is he dead?"_

 _"Chaos, Tails-"_

 _"Answer me! You're...Not you when you're like this, and you do bad things!"_

 _"I didn't hurt anyone, and I'm not gonna hurt you either!" He growled. Tails just whimpered and tried looking away from him. Dark Sonic groaned and put a hand underneath chin with his elbow leaning on his knee. "Sorry for snapping on you there. To tell you the truth, I've been irritated all week. Eggman just pushed me over the edge. I didn't mean to break our promise, but I guess this doesn't really count. I'd never hurt you like that again." Like a shadow, he moved in an instant. He actually saw him move like black shade, right in front of him. All Tails could do was watch him with shaking eyes. "_ _I only came here to check on you. I check on you from time to time because I'm worried about you, kiddo. You're already on your own, and you're not even a teenager yet. You being out here alone while I do my thing, it gets me antsy about your well being." He leaned his hand on the wall. "I know you're scared of me when I'm like this, but you gotta understand. No matter what happens between you and me, or even if you end up hating me in the future for whatever reason," Sonic then placed both of his hands on his shoulders, looking into his blue eyes. "Or even if I do turn into this form again, and break our promise, I will always be here. And I'll always come to you whenever you really need me. That'll be one promise I'll never break. It's a promise I can't break, and I swear that on my life. Do you understand?"_

 _He couldn't take it. Before he knew it, he threw his arms around him and hugged the hedgehog of dark power. It wasn't a monster, he had to get that through his head. This was still his brother. What he did years ago was just a mistake. He had to forgive him for that. That thing was a monster, because that wasn't him. But this, this was Sonic talking right now. His arms tightened around his torso, and Sonic embraced him back while patting his head._

* * *

 _He wiped his face of tears and sniffled. Man that was so long ago. It felt like forever ago. He pushed that memory so far into his head that, he almost forgot it even happened._

 _"Do you honestly think this is the way to go about everything? Do you really think that HIS way is logical?"_

 _That, sounded like someone else._

 _Just then, something else appeared. It was-It was Sonic and Shadow! They were walking together down some kind of street. That definitely wasn't Moebius. Things were too pretty there. Where the heck did they end up? Wait a minute, screw that noise. Sonic was alive! They both were alive!_

 _"I wouldn't be showing you this if he was dead, so that would leave only one conclusion."_

 _Sonic was alive._

 _"Yes. You see, the anti-Sonic's power is more complicated. It makes you think of hopelessness and madness. Those are negative emotions that have nothing but endless spirals of confusion. But positive emotions, are a lot more simple. That is the only way to break his control."_

 _Yes, yes that had to be true._

 _"Sonic prime would never want you to think this way. You are not yourself. You cannot let him have control over you anymore. Sonic prime is alive, and you have to make him proud. However, even if he was gone, that is not issue here. You have to lead everyone in the right path, no matter what happens."_

 _They were right. They were absolutely right._

 _He had to break away from this._

 _He had to get his mind back!_

* * *

Zonic needed a smoke, and that's precisely what he was doing right now. Smoking to take the edge off. If he didn't do something, he was going to hurt someone again, and he didn't want to get fired. He may have been an Overseer, but that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to be fired from being a zone cop. He took the cancer stick from his lips and blew smoke from his nostrils. He then tossed the tiny burnt out bud on the floor and stepped on it with his boot to put it out, all without looking. He then snapped his fingers, requesting for another. There were a few other crushed buds on the floor, with bits of tobacco scattered around. Zespio, standing beside him, leaned over and handed him another cigarette before putting the pack away in his uniform pocket.

Zonic and several of his men were standing beside him in front of his monitors in the Room of Realities. The Mobius prime ones specifically. Zespio then held up a lighter next to the hedgehog's mouth, lighting the stick between his fingers. "Permission to speak freely, commander?"

"Granted." The lieutenant general murmured before sucking in a puff.

"I don't mean to patronize you, but I feel obligated to give you advice as more than your colonel, but as a friend. Smoking at your young age will hurt you in the future."

The hedgehog blew out some smoke from his mouth and sighed with comfort. "You never mean ill-will, colonel. I know it will. That's why I keep it to a minimal, if at all. But right now, I need this." He flicked some ashes off onto the floor. His ear flicked at the sound of one of his men bending down to clean it up with a broom and dustpan. Zonic said he'd clean it himself, but Zespio insisted hiring a private to do it instead. He didn't want him to stress anymore than he had to after what just happened. "I may be related to the chaos bound Mobians but, I'm definitely not as strong as Sonic prime. My lungs will shrivel up like plastic bags if I do this everyday."

 _"Heh. You adults are all the same."_ They turned their attention to the fox on the screens. He was chuckling at them. _"All you do is drink, smoke and snort until your bodies rot. All because of your vices. Speaking of which,"_ The kitsune crossed his arms. " _Are you planning to smoke all day? My connection to your crappy network isn't going to hold out for much longer, and you swines wasted several hours trying to fix your stupid universal wi-fi after it shut down on me."_ Moments after Miles first contacted him, the connection began to go bad. Something in the entire building was wrong, causing almost every device to have some kind of problem. It took them all night to get it back online in the Reality room, so no one got any sleep. Zonic's men were used to that though, so they all fought through their desire to slumber.

"So nice to see you again, anti-Miles." Zonic retorted sarcastically. "Aren't you grateful you didn't end up here like all the others?"

 _"Please. As if I'd ever let myself get captured by a pig like you. And Miles is just fine, thank you."_

Zonic just twisted his face in aggression and rose his voice. "I see the mouth on that rotten muzzle of yours still hasn't learned to respect higher authority."

Miles scowled. _"You keep talking to me like I'm some inferior, and I won't help you with anything!"_

"Keep your damn help then, you dreadful vulpine!" Zonic shouted, making his men look at him instead of the fox on the screens. Miles just glared from inside of the monitors as Zonic took the cigarette in between his fingers and crushed it up in his hand, not caring about the burn it left. He didn't give a damn, he didn't even feel the pain. He was far too angry to feel anything right now. "I was actually expecting you to call me, to give me some valuable information. But you know what? I don't give a shit." He threw the crunched up cigarette on the floor and marched his way over to the monitors with clenched fists. "If you think I'm going to waste my time listening to some kid who's got a backwards brother complex, you are horribly mistaken." He put his hands behind his back. "I'm not even an adult yet, and you should know that. I can't help that I'm more mature than you, so your disdain for me is senseless. I understand what you have to say involves anti-Sonic. That vital information could help me help you from being killed. If you keep your mouth shut, fine. Then we'll all die all because a brat wanted to be more useless than helpful."

 _"...You wouldn't dare throw all our lives away just because I pissed you off."_

"Please don't call me on my bluff, I'm in that kind of mood today."

 _"..."_ Miles just held his tongue, silently hissing to himself at the commander's sharp stinging words. He was never this snappy before. He didn't know what happened, but whatever happened must have really screwed him up. _"Scourge didn't get just one power from the shrines. He got three of them. The ability to steal divine powers, a power up for his super form, and the ability of limited immortality."_

Zonic couldn't even gasp in surprise, he was too annoyed. All he did was close his eyes and sigh sharply while face palming. "Of course.." He growled.

 _"He cannot die by normal means. Not only that, but he can't die from normal chaos energy either. It has to be purified chaos power, something I think only Sonic prime has."_ He explained diligently. _"He can't be left neutralized again, you know how that'll go. You need to kill him, or we're all going to go through this again, but worse."_ Miles was then seen holding up documents and looking over them. _"You're not as heartless as your warden, but sometimes you've got to be to certain people. Burn his body when you're done."_ He said carelessly. _"You really need to update his profile so everyone knows about this. Anyway, I need to tell you one more thing."_ He put down the documents and exhaled. _"Someone told me some info, then instructed me to inform you."_

Zonic narrowed his eyes at that. Perhaps it was the same person who messaged him as well?

 _"My prime self is working on taking down Scourge's power in Mobius prime. Scourge, did a lot of damage to it, then he disappeared. The way chaos energy works, is that if someone severs any kind of connection from the user, it will hurt them drastically."_

"So the encryption on my monitors, that chaotic code was-"

 _"Yes, him. He did that with his own power. That's probably the reason why your wi-fi sucks. Since it's been broken, your satellites work now, but it's still being blocked from Mobius prime's connection thanks to him. Once my prime self takes that down, it'll be enough to either kill him, or render him powerless. Let's hope the prior will happen instead, but nothing will happen at all since he's not even in Mobius prime anymore."_

"Where is he?"

 _"If my calculations are correct, he's probably in No Zone with all of you. Hiding and waiting to start a war."_

Zonic just dragged his hand off his face. "I predicted that."

 _"You should also know that if a chaos user is too far away from the connection that they created, anything that may harm that connection won't affect them. In other words, my prime self's efforts will be in vain. What you need to do, is contact my prime self and get him to make a connection from their world to yours. That way, once he shuts it down, Scourge won't be a match for anyone. I already fixed the picture on your monitors. Once I log off, you'll be seeing the true state of Mobius prime, and you'll be able to talk to him. But no matter what, you can't let him sever that connection just yet."_

"I understand, Miles." He put a hand underneath his chin, his finger lightly grazing his lip as a thinking expression. "What I don't understand, is why you're helping me. Sure, you don't want to die, but I feel there's something else you're not telling me."

 _"...Just like an adult, poking your nose where it doesn't belong.."_ The fox rolled his eyes and shook his head. _"I've always wanted that bastard dead, anyone can see that. But, I also owe someone a favor. For saving my life. I owe him this much."_

"I see." Zonic turned to the side and looked down at the floor as he began working his brain. "One more question Miles, and you can log off." He began pacing around slowly. "You weren't the one who unlocked the encryption, were you?"

 _"No. I, found that kind of strange, actually. And I got messaged by someone. They told me everything, and told me to tell you if I wanted to live. They even helped me get connected to you. They said they messaged you too, then disappeared."_ He furrowed his brows. _"Someone's watching us both."_

"Indeed. They're probably watching your prime self as well. I've already checked with my hackers, and they couldn't find anyone in any reality with the ability to use chaotic code like Scourge. We document every single person in our realities, and yet no one could find this mysterious person." It was as if this person really didn't exist at all. But that just couldn't be right. "I assume we won't speak again."

 _"You assume correctly. Just make sure you follow their instructions."_

"Of course. Just make sure the survivors in your world are well."

 _"Tch. Godspeed, I guess."_

And with that, the connection ended. Miles was no longer on the screen, and instead, a ravaged world showed. Zonic's mouth hung open as bodies and blood filled the reflection of his eyes. He covered his mouth with one hand, and clenched his eyes shut harshly as he forced himself not to throw up. It looked just as bad as anti-Mobius. Buildings were destroyed, people were dead, blood marked the streets of every city. He held up a shaky hand to the monitor, pressing the tip of his finger on one of the channel buttons. He tried flipping channels to check on other parts of Sonic's world. Other countries and nations weren't as badly effected, but whatever happened to Sonic's town was starting to spread all over the world. But the cities Station Square and Twinkle Park, they were the worst.

How the hell was he supposed to show Sonic this? Were there any survivors at all?

Maybe that military force where the humans resided was still alive? GUN, was it? He had to find it, he just had to. As he pressed the buttons as fast as he could, he felt someone grasp his shoulder. He looked back to see Zespio holding him while looking up at the screen. "Sir, did you just see that?"

"See what, colonel?"

"That machine, right there, right before you flipped to the next station. Go back a few."

Zonic did as he said, watching carefully for any signs of something strange. Finally he settled on the channel Zespio referred to, because he pointed at something directly.

"There! Do you see it, commander?"

"I do." Zonic spoke breathlessly. He rose a brow, utterly confused by what he was seeing. That robot, that looked like the exact model from Sonic's world, but it wasn't. That poor machine was destroyed decades ago. It was a rogue machine of Dr. Robotnik prime, and worked for that organization GUN along with Shadow prime and Rouge prime. And it was red, wasn't it? But the machine Zespio was pointing at, this thing was light blue. Almost cyan. "Zespio, go through anti-Mobius' files and look for Dr. Kintobor's profile."

The chameleon saluted and rushed from his side.

He saw the lights in the eyes of that machine blink. It was _alive_. It began to move, one step at a time to get used to walking. Soon it began sprinting, going in a direction Zonic was unsure of. The hedgehog felt a headache come along and rush through his head. There were way too many things going on right now.

But one thing he knew for sure, was that he had to get in contact with Miles prime.

* * *

 _Sonic..._

 _Sonic is..._

 _...Sonic is..!_

"...Sonic is alive." Tails murmured. Once those words grazed his lips, he felt true reality hit him in the face. Being depressed doesn't change anything. Being insane doesn't change anything. Being paranoid or wrathful, won't change a thing. It only makes things a lot worse. So what if things took a turn for the worst? So what if they couldn't do anything about it? So what if they had a really high chance of failing and dying? So what if Sonic was dead?

Worrying about any of that wouldn't do anyone any good. Maybe it was useless doing anything at all right now, but it wouldn't be a waste of time to stop people from killing each other.

Besides, Sonic and Shadow were alive.

And that was enough to push him forward and break free of that green bastard's control.

"Guys." He said quietly. He had to be louder to really get their attention. "Guys!" He exclaimed while looking up with a more hopeful expression on his face. He looked as if he realized something big, and he couldn't wait to tell everyone what he saw. His baby blue eyes returned, dispersing any red or scarlet from his irises. With his now normal eyes, he promptly surveyed his surroundings with his mouth slightly agape. Amy was still in front of him. Speaking of which, his cheek was starting to sting pretty badly. She must have punched him pretty hard. But she wasn't even looking at him, she was looking behind her with a worried expression on her face. She was backing away beside him, before spawning a hammer in her hand.

Cheese, who was still hiding in her hair, flew up and then soared behind Tails. Guess this was his new hiding spot. But what was he even hiding from? Tails looked in the same direction as the pink hedgehog and saw the other adults following the same way as they were, taking a step back every second that passed. No one moved too fast, and moved steadily with slow paces. In front of them all, was an upcoming mob of violent, foam-filled mouthed, mind controlled Mobians. They were coming. Fast. They were running, random weapons held in their grasps.

Some people didn't have their limbs, and some people didn't have parts of their faces. It was amazing how strong the body was. How it could still move even without legs, or arms, or a frontal lobe. They looked like zombies. But they weren't moaning, they weren't yelling for 'brains'. They only knew one thing: Kill until there is nothing left. They had to get out of here. They had to leave-They had to run, too! But it wouldn't even matter. Even if they ran, they'd just catch up. The plane was down, they didn't have any means of transportation.

His ears suddenly flattened at the sound of something huge and heavy landing behind him.

It landed so hard, pieces of concrete flew to the air before falling back to the ground. Tails almost fell on his face, leaning forward a little too close. He whipped his head from behind with a yelp, feeling Cheese grip his tiny blob-like hands in his back fur from the motion. A large shadow fell over him entirely, causing him to crane his neck upwards even more, to see something tall and menacing glare at him from above. This...This thing in front of him, it was a robot.

A... _A robot._

When's the last time he saw one of those?

And if he wasn't mistaken, this robot looked exactly like-

" _Omega_?" The fox ended up falling on his butt, his face moving to form an expression of panic and puzzlement. Yes, there was no mistaking it. This model was **E-123 Omega**. A stocky upper body, with bulky arms and sharp metallic claws on it's hands. Large black shoulders with a Greek insignia on the front and back of them. One circling pipe around the waist with two flaps attached, having twin jets installed in the back below the hunch. Yellow wrists studded with large spikes, like that of a dog collar-

Hold on, hold on, wait a second...

There were no spikes, they were rounded. Blunted. And the Greek insignia that stood for the letter 'omega', wasn't there anymore. There was a peace sign, instead. It's eyes weren't red, they were green. Finally, the robot wasn't red like the Omega he recognized, it was cyan.

This, this didn't make any sense at all. But, if there was one thing he learned throughout this entire ordeal, is that anything or anyone that didn't seem to make sense, was probably an anti counterpart to something or someone else. This had to have been an **Anti-E-123 Omega** , or something along those lines. He only heard of the anti-Eggman, never met him, but he could only assume that the good doctor made this robot. He wondered, did it operate similarly? Did it have a chaos drive?

His big brain had to halt it's current speculation, as the large automaton turned it's head one hundred and eighty degrees.

"Just as calculated, almost too flawlessly." The voice sounded metallic and computerized like it should, but something sounded off for some reason. Tails couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Y-You're, the anti-Omega, right?"

"..." The metal giant was silent for a moment, before turning back to face the fox again. "...I suppose you could say that."

"Then how do I know I can trust you? I don't even know how you work!" Tails yelled as he pointed while trying to back himself away by scooting backwards.

"I am the one who broke you out of his control. A thank you, a form of gratitude, seems to be more appropriate than a curt order of introduction." It got down on it's knees and let it's hand reach down to grab Tails by the scruff of his fur. The kitsune began panicking, trying to get out of it's hold while yelling for help. This caught the attention of the rest of the group, gasping at the sudden appearance of the robot. Rouge looked happy at first, until she saw the strange color palette. That wasn't her Omega, that was obviously another robot. Knuckles, Amy and Vanilla were deeply confused. The robot reached up, and set the preteen down on one of it's wide shoulders. Tails blinked, finding the spot kind of comfortable to be sitting on.

"U-Uh-" Tails was going to say something, but the robot cut him off.

"All will be explained in due time, Mobian prime natives." The robot dismissed the group's obvious desire of answers. "For now, please proceed quickly behind me and standby for enemy neutralization. Initiating riot foam." As the robot's eyes glow green, flashing as it glowered directly into the mob of Mobians bolting towards them all. Knuckles hurried both himself and an unconscious Cream beside the robot. Amy held up her hammer, just in case she needed to give a swing or two. Rouge seized Vanilla's wrist and flapped her soar wings in the air while carrying the woman away. She floated and landed behind the droid, wincing and falling to her knees while letting the adult bunny go. Vanilla landed safely on her bare feet, and went to the bat's side for support.

Knuckles darted his purple orbs at the mysterious machine. "What now?"

"Enemy neutralization is commencing. Spellbinder wavelengths loading."

Amy rose a brow at that. As a tarot card user, she knew exactly what that word meant. "Spellbinder? You mean enchanting?"

"Spellbinder wavelengths powering now by chaos energy. In approximately fifty seconds, you will all be placed in a trance in order to be vaccinated of chaotic hypnosis. Miles prime," The robot noted specifically. "You are to plug your fingers in your ears, and close your eyes. If one is exposed to spellbinding wavelengths unnecessarily, the brain will be scattered anew in disarray."

" _What!?_ " The echidna yelled.

The droid held out it's arms, it's hands concealing themselves away inside of the limbs to form empty metallic sockets that looked similar to cannons for missiles. "The rest of you, all your five senses are to be vulnerable. Put your faith in my commands. This is not a request. For you will all die if you do not comprehend and attentively listen to my instructions."

Something in Tails' gut was screaming at him to actually obey the robot and do what he says. Time was counting down, and he didn't want to be a mind slave again. Sonic told him to listen to it, and if his gut hadn't failed him yet, it certainly wouldn't fail him now. He clenched his eyes shut and rammed the palms of his hands into his big ears.

A big white flash seemed to have lit up the entire planet.

That's how strong that spellbinding wave was.

But things happened so fast. Before he knew it, he heard the robot talking to him again.

"These enemies are not the mindless Mobian civilians." The blue Omega revealed eerily with no emotion. "You may open your eyes and unplug your ears, Miles prime. The others will wake up soon enough."

Carefully, he opened one eye. This made him flinch at what he saw. All the people chasing after them, they were all passed out on the streets in front of them. He took his hands from his ears and let his mouth hang open in shock. The robot was right. These weren't Mobians, they weren't their people at all. These were Moebians, anti-Mobians. They were wearing silly costumes, masks on their faces. They weren't just Moebians, they were Scourge's gang. All of them.

And in the center, was someone he recognized too well.

Fiona Fox.

The boy wasn't able to say anything as a reaction, he just sat there with a mixture of anger and surprise. He just grit his teeth and shuddered at the memories he had of both her and Scourge. She was so strong, so independent. Now look where she was. Passed out in a street full of nobodies...and corpses. She was gravely injured, just like the rest of them, only she wasn't missing a limb or a part of her head. She was still in one literal piece as a whole. She was lucky. Along with her, the unconscious ocean of Moebians were immobilized by a hard looking, almost rock-like foam. Even if they woke up, they wouldn't be moving for a while.

"Let me explain one thing to you, and only you personally, Miles prime,"

Tails silently looked down below him so he could listen to what it had to say.

"No matter what happens here, or in No Zone with Sonic and Shadow prime," Ominously, it's hollow green eyes glinted with something that reminded Tails of Scourge's power, but with a feeling more unknown and serious. "I have a primary objective to consummate, and I will see it through. No one will stand in my way, and you would be wise not to disobey my wishes."

"What.." Tails just shook his head while squinting his eyes. "What do you even want from us?"

"A simple answer for a simple question," The smoke that emitted from it's cannons subsided, and the machine slowly placed it's arms down and let it's hands be unsheathed once more. "I want Scourge terminated just as much as you do. I will aid you in any way I can to make that happen. All I request, is to join you, for now."

"That's all?"

"Yes. However," It hesitated, making small vibrations as it functioned. "You are intelligent, but far too _observant._ Should you evaluate my true goal, and try to stop me, I will be forced to neutralize all of you. Do you conceive my words?"

"...I," Tails' eyes shadowed with a sense of demoralization. Not of their threat, but at the weight of this robot's identity. This robot, felt _alive._ Sure, they sounded like a machine, but it's words were too 'natural', for lack of a better word, to be a robot. It was as if they understood sarcasm, cynicism, intimidation, and seclusion. One might argue that Omega talked almost, if not exactly, the same as this robot, if not more emotional. However, this machine specifically mentioned for Tails not to butt in on what their plans may be, should he figure it out. That threat in itself, sounded way too personal. Way too, Mobian-like. Like an actual person was saying it. They specifically told him to back off. But it probably wasn't even just that, they probably didn't want Tails to figure out who this is.

When Tails was placed on top of the robot, he felt something was off. Omega was a very thick and hard-shelled robot with very strong armor. It felt heavy by just touching it. But this thing, felt as thick as a simple window. Sure, maybe not literally that light, but definitely not strong or thick as the rest of it's body. It almost felt...

... _Hollow._

Like something was supposed to be put in here.

So as he heard the grumbles and groans of his friends awakening from their dirt nap, he wondered one more thing...

Was it possible to _pilot_ an Omega robot?

* * *

 **END - 23**

 **Dun dun _duuuuun._**

 **A war's brewing, Sonic plans to bone Shadow, and a new recruit has joined Tails' party.**

 ** _But it seems like._..Ah oh well, you'll find that out later.**

 **A little trivia for the chapter. There is indeed an anti-Omega robot model in the comics. That is all I will say about that.**

 **I know you guys are just waiting for some real action to come in, and I promised you to wait just a little longer. Well, that wait is coming to a close rather quickly. I will suggest one more promise to you all. Considering the climax of certain events are extremely close to seeing the day of light, a new chapter will be posted very soon to void you of impatience. I will attempt at posting and updating in less than a week, sooner than normal.**

 **Until then, please wait just a teensy bit longer. _Because_ _once it starts, it's not going to stop._**

 **Bonus time. Only one again, though.**

1\. Scourge gained three powers from a location known as 'the shrines'. The power to steal and rip super forms, limited immortality and a power boost for his own super form. Sonic was only given one from his version of the shrines.

 **Hope you have a nice day, and _please review._**


	26. it's all a lie

**3 (?) - Highest of All (?)**

* * *

 _ **June** 22nd **(?)**_

 _This message...It..._

 _No. No, none of this could be true!_

 _I can't believe this bullshit, I can't! How was that even possible? I don't even believe in shit like that! I mean, science clearly disproves every..._

 _I..._

 _..._

 _I don't even know who this guy is. He just messaged me outta no where, swearing that everything he's saying is the truth. He said that if I don't understand, if I stay ignorant, everyone's gonna die. Everyone's going to be-_

 _Shit._

 _If all of this is true, then that's why I have this stupid responsibility. That's why I'm in this stupid bloodline. That's why I can't do it, why I can't finish it. That's probably why the old man drinks all the time, because he knows I eventually have to take over. But it won't just be us, all kinds of people from all kinds of places will be doomed, too. And, it'll be all my fault. The quickest way to save everyone would be to die, but, how do I even do that? Nothing ever works!_

 _This means, that I'm higher._

 _That we're all higher._

 _That we're higher than everybody in existence._

 _We're supposed to rule._

 _We're supposed to conquer until there's nothing left._

 _And it'll just repeat again, over and over._

 _If we want to stop this, then we all have to die._

 _All of us._

* * *

 _ **June** 24nd **(?)**_

 _Now I understand why he hates me._

 _Because I'm one of them._

 _I'm next in line to conquer._

 _Conquer them all._

 _Stupid fool._

 _He deserved it._

 _All of it._

 _..._

 _I don't need this stupid book anymore. Diaries are stupid anyway._

 _I'll just burn it along with everything else in this damned castle._

 _..._

 _Just wait for me a little longer, you ungodly fucks._

 _I will end your reign._

 _I will free everyone._

 _I will save everyone._

 _Ah, right. I'll have to write this down, though, so I don't forget._

 _I'll rip out this page, and take it with me forever._

 _The answer, is Ch_

* * *

 **The rest of the page was burned.**

 **END - ?**

 **"Highest of all."**

 **They will be the highest of them all one day.**

 **Soon, they will all bow.**


	27. Huge Foreshadowing!

**Warning, lemon.**

 **24 - "Huge Foreshadowing!"**

* * *

"So let me get this straight," The echinda began with a low, increasingly agitated tone. "This robot, who looks like the same exact robot who used to work with Shadow and Rouge, but is actually the anti version of it, came to our rescue and knocked everyone out, including us, so it could clean our minds of any corrupted chaos energy from Scourge. And it was able to do so, with something called a 'spellbinder wavelength'."

"Ehh," Tails slowly smiled sheepishly while scratching the side of his cheek with his finger. His eyes lowered as he realized that all did sound a bit unusual, even for them. "Yeah. If it wasn't for him-err, it, I'd still be out of my mind. You guys would have ended up just like me. Or," He then looked over at the piles of unconscious bodies frozen with that hard foam substance. "A whole lot worse."

The red Mobian just sighed to himself while rubbing his temple. Every hour that passed by, became more and more hectic. He never even liked that Omega thing. He hated Shadow, and he 'tolerated' Rouge. Well, complicated was a better word. Anything that looked even similar to Team Dark put a bad taste in his mouth. For whatever reason, this thing saved their lives and even saved them from eventual madness. There had to be another selfish reason to this. No way this thing would willingly want to help them out. Even if this Omega was an opposite, he doubted the AI in that thing was compassionate.

Even Rouge was eyeing the machine very dubiously, and she didn't like what she was seeing. She knew this was obviously an opposite entity of Omega, but she had a bad feeling about it. Did it have an adapting AI just like the original? Did it comprehend basic emotions just like him? She rubbed her gloved hand on the surface of it's armor, feeling the type of metal that was installed into it's body. It even felt like Omega, but it wasn't the same. She squinted her eyes and poked her finger into it's arms and chest. The robot was silent as of now, not saying a word or moving a mechanical muscle.

Vanilla took over in carrying Cream on her back, wanting to have her daughter by her side. Knuckles was a little put off at the request, but, this was her daughter. Any demands regarding her, he'd have to respect. He didn't want to belittle her or underestimate her as a woman, he was just worried for her. She wasn't exactly strong like Amy, or as agile as Rouge. However, with a huff, she effortlessly carried her little girl on her back. Sure Cream didn't weigh much at all, but he figured a woman of her age would have some kind of trouble. Then again, how old _was_ this lady? She looked like she was in her twenties, but she was obviously older than that. Ugh, he didn't understand women sometimes.

Amy was sitting on the ground, leaning her body weight against one of her hammers. She just sighed, bags growing under her eyes. When's the last time any of them slept? Or eaten? Or peed? Or showered? She ran her fingers through her long pink quills, and looked at the concrete below. Everyone looked so exhausted. Tails glanced at the hedgehog, then exhaled to himself. He then jumped off of the tall metal giant, and landed beside Rouge who didn't even pay him any mind. She was too busy inspecting the machine. He walked over to Amy with a small smile, and got down on his knees to sit beside her. He turned his head and looked at her.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hey.." She muttered back.

"I'm, really sorry. For saying all that, Amy."

"It's fine," The girl flagged her hand at him. "I know you'd never say that to me, not in your right mind." She laughed to herself a little. "Even if you were feeling hopeless, you'd never say stuff like that. It's just not you." She wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked at the dirt that rubbed off onto her glove. Gross. "Honestly, I only hit you because I was turning crazy, too. I could feel something messing with my head right when I even considered hitting you. If I wanted to knock some sense into you, I'd use my hammer, not my fist."

The fox blinked. That was true. Amy wasn't a brawler, she didn't fight like that. That wasn't who she was.

"Anyway, I forgive you, but I'm also sorry for hitting you. I didn't know what I was doing, but that was still wrong of me. Sonic would be pretty mad, huh?" She chuckled.

"Hn," Tails made a sad smile. "Yeah. But he could never hurt you back. He'd probably yell at you, though. Hiss and raise his quills a bit."

"Heh, that's true."

"If you two are done," Knuckles' voice interrupted their conversation. "We need to keep moving. Let's ditch already, come on." He barked as he as helped Rouge walk with him. She was going to refuse but, she still wasn't at her best. Reluctantly, she allowed him to take her by the hands and let her lean on his body. Things between the two were, weird, because of Shadow. Nothing was ever proven but, Knuckles had his obvious suspicions just like everyone else. He assumed she and that biohog were a thing, and he didn't like that. Then he kept hanging around Sonic after a while, _a lot_. Which was even weirder. Rouge knew he didn't like that, but they never talked about it. She figured it'd do more worse than good. Besides, part of his problem involved Sonic, and it she knew it wasn't her place to even begin at explaining his and Shadow's relationship.

Amy used her hammer to stand up on her feet, before dusting her dress off. She looked to the side to see miss Vanilla ready to move with the group. She was smiling gently at everyone, as always. Tails nodded and was going to stand up, until their silent metal friend finally decided to speak.

"You cannot move forward." It's robotic voice echoed in the silent blood filled streets.

"Come again?" The guardian scowled.

"Repeating...You cannot move forward. Not yet." The robot started to move it's legs, making loud foot steps into the ground. "Miles prime, I request that you sit atop my shoulder." It's eyes glowed green, a jade colored glare lighting up their way in the darkness of their now apocalyptic world. A red moon was still present here, making it seem like night never ended. The darkness along with red aura made things difficult to see through. "As the only formidable hacker in your group, your safety is more important than others."

This made everyone frown and scrunch up their faces, understandably so. Tails shook his head immediately. He knew what that thing was planning. They wanted to keep an eye on him, so he wouldn't do anything that'd blow their cover. Whoever it was, anyway. "No, I'm fine walking or flying, thank you."

"Your safety is of the greatest importance. Requesting again...Please sit atop my shoulder for direct protection."

"How about you give that protection to miss Vanilla and Cream instead?"

"Negative. They are not of significance."

Tails just scoffed and looked away. He then began walking away, gesturing for the others to follow him. "If that's your view on Mobian life, then I'll happily take my chances with the others." After saying that, Amy smirked and turned her nose up at the machine before joining the kitsune's side. Rouge, Knuckles and Vanilla followed their lead, walking away from the metal giant. They were silent for a minute or so.

"..." Suddenly, the light coming from it's green eyes shined into the direction of the unconscious bodies. Puzzled, Tails glanced over. Why did it do that? "It is best you stay for another short period of time before moving forward. That woman in the front," The robot held up it's bulky arm and pointed with one of it's claws. "You must have her detained."

It was talking about Fiona. After that weird spellbinding light thingy, she was probably fine now and back in her right mind. Still, she couldn't be trusted, and that's what the robot was hinting at. If she was left alone, she could either die, or run back to Scourge. Either would be bad, but the latter would be worse. With a deep sigh, Tails turned around and began walking back in the droid's direction of the light. "Can someone help me get this rock foam stuff off of her?"

"I'll do it." Amy volunteered, tightening her grasp on her hammer and jogging over. Tails stood aside and allowed Amy to move a little closer in front of the female fox. She grinned to herself. She's been wanting pound the hell out of her with this mallet for a long damn time. Shame she couldn't actually do it, but this would be the next best thing. "This is for all the trouble you gave us, and Sonic!" She held it up in the air, and swung it down with great power and force. With one whack, the woman was already almost free. Amy swung again, and swiftly destroyed the last piece of rock foam confining her. "Hyah!" Pieces fell off, while some of the substance was still stuck to some places, but it wasn't immobilizing her anymore. The vixen fell on her face, completely free of restraint.

Tails tried fighting off the nasty taste in his mouth, and bent down to pick the woman up. With slight trouble, he held her in her arms and quietly thanked Amy. He then wobbled over to the robot, holding the red fox in front of it. Oh God, what was she wearing? Geez, talk about subtle. He awaited it's next set of instructions.

"Please keep her still. Initiating riot foam." It announced. It's arms transformed into the cannons that shot out the strange hardening material from before. It blasted a small amount of it forward, nailing both of her wrists and locking them together. How it was able to aim and perfectly form two handcuff-like binds on her hands was beyond Tails' mental capacity. "Neutralization complete. When she awakens, it is best that you interrogate her on what she knows about our shared adversary. Please proceed to hand her over to me."

"...Yeah. Sure." Tails said slowly. He held up her body to the robot, narrowing his bright blue eyes. Was it going to open up? Would he be able to see who was inside?

"Opening cranium. Please standby." What the? Did he just hear static? Eh, probably just his imagination. Steam pushed out from the top layer of the droid. Suddenly, it's head slowly pried open and lifted upwards. It then bent forward in Tails' direction, revealing the entrance inside of the robot. Curiously, Tails looked inside, but the fox saw...Nothing. There was no one inside. It was just some, cushioned looking area. He did see controls and a dashboard, but no one inside to work them. So it was indeed possible to operate an Omega robot, but no one was operating this one. But..How..."Please place her inside of me." It requested again. With a flat line for a mouth, the vulpine carefully lifted her up and pushed her inside of the cushioned space.

The top of the head slowly lifted down, and made a loud sound to clasp it's body together. Fiona was now trapped inside of the robot. Staring at the face of the machine with confused eyes, the machine tilted it's head at him.

"You must have thought that you were going to see something interesting. I am sorry to disappoint you. Let us keep moving forward." It taunted, in it's own emotionless way. Tails just growled at it and sharply turned to walk away. Oh yeah, there was definitely some jerk inside of that thing. There had to be! That's what his gut was telling him! It couldn't have been wrong.

"Just come on," The preteen demanded roughly. "I've got work to do anyway." He turned his head to look up into the sky. He saw the tower of GUN HQ in the distance, they didn't have far to go now.

Besides, he had another plan in mind for their new robotic friend.

* * *

Nighttime in No Zone was beautiful.

From the orange and pinks, came reds and purples. Soon, indigo and dark purples painted the world. Almost black, the sky was nearly as dark as Shadow's fur. He and Sonic were sitting on the edge of the roof of No Zone Town Hall. No one was up here, it was just them. Alone. They weren't granted access to the roof, they just hopped up there and sat on the ledge together. It was a pretty tall building, not even close to No Zone's HQ tower though. They had just came from a movie theater. It was Shadow's first time going to one, and Sonic let him choose what they should see. Honestly, Shadow had no idea what he was in for, but his choice made Sonic rather anxious. It was a horror movie, and Sonic wasn't the best at reacting to jump scares.

Shadow of course was barely phased, just blinking at Sonic's yelps and fidgets. He was more invested in the story than the terror aspect of the movie. He commented that it was actually pretty interesting, and quite good. The hero was too busy whimpering to notice. He could barely eat his popcorn or his hot dog, which shocked the dark one. At one point, Sonic was so terrified that he flinched and dove himself into Shadow's body. He had reached his arms out and grabbed him, shoving his face into shoulder to look away. The action made the elder look below at his shoulder blade. Feeling a bit awkward, he lifted up a hand and placed it down on top of his blue head.

He gently rubbed it, petting him as he cuddled himself against him even more. He guessed he liked that, because he could feel him purr. It was just, odd to see Sonic act so terrified from some movie. It was odd to see him frightened at anything at all. Even in the face of danger, or even death, he was never afraid. Even if he _was_ , he never squealed like a girl. As he pet behind his ears, he softly placed his palm on Sonic's cheek. He caressed his face, which caused the younger hedgehog to look up with a rather embarrassed expression. Shadow didn't care if he was, that face alone was adorable.

He kissed him, and things began to escalate from there.

They made out in the movie theater, trying to keep quiet as everyone was paying attention to the film. They were lucky, as not many people were in the movie theater. After all, why would you go see a movie when the evening show of the festival was going to start soon? With that in mind, they did as much as they could without being caught. Sonic ended up getting in Shadow's lap, kissing along his neck and touching his abdomen. He even gave him a little challenge. Try to watch the end of the movie while Sonic was able to do whatever he wanted. So Shadow had to sit there, with him sitting in his lap and touching all over him. He tried not to moan or grunt, as Sonic was saying...very provocative things in his ear.

He had promised him something rather valuable.

He said, "Hey..." In a husky voice. "I want to do something later tonight when we get back at the apartment." That wasn't the raunchy part. The raunchy part was this. "And when we get there, ahh.." He was moaning in his ear, on purpose. He wasn't even doing anything to himself, he was just messing with him. "I want you to show me just how frustrated you are with me. Maybe _I'll_ _let you fuck me_ , too.."

Now see that-

-That was probably the most vulgar thing he'd ever hope to hear the young hedgehog say.

After one single, silent and almost deadly threat to screw Sonic right in the chair, he backed off, but not without giving him that promise.

"I think I'm going to let you take it." Was all he said, before laying himself against the ultimate life form. He never got out of his lap, and Shadow didn't mind. He watched the rest of the movie just like that.

That was maybe two hours ago, at about seven. Now it was nine, and it was almost time for the show. Knee to knee, Sonic and Shadow looked down upon the glorious streets of the No Zone's city. This place really was amazing. It was a shame it'd be ruined thanks to a war. Suddenly, the hero held out his hand and let it rest on top of Shadow's hand. He held onto it tightly, before looking over at the other and smiling.

"I had a lot of fun." He said pleasantly. "Being with you like this, was pretty awesome."

The ebony hedgehog looked at their embraced hands, feeling something warm resonate in his heart. It was burning. He had to do it. He had to say it. He could feel it. This was definitely the right time. The right time Zonic talked about. Shifting a little with the slight feeling of anxiety, he faced Sonic and took his hand from his grasp. He then seized Sonic's forearms and leaned closer. He got close enough to the point where he was touching his nose, and kissed the blue hedgehog. The kiss was passionate, and he even put his arms around him to push him closer. Sonic was caught off guard by his eagerness, automatically putting his arms around his head.

"Mmn," He could hear Sonic making noises already. Didn't matter what was happening, he just loved kissing him. He was trying not to smile. "You're gonna make us fall..Nm..." He giggled as he felt Shadow move his body. The couple ended up moving backwards so that they weren't lying on the ledge. In a safer spot, Shadow pushed Sonic down onto his back. He pinned his hands by his shoulders and broke the kiss. Shadow rubbed his hands down his wrists and kissed down his muzzle towards the side of his neck. The hero felt himself open up his legs a little more so his partner could move in between his thighs. He liked where this was going, but he had two problems with this. One, they weren't in a bed. Two, this was _really_ out of no where. What was Shadow's deal? Did he finally break him? "Hey, not that I don't like this, but what's up? This is kinda sudden, ya know?"

Shadow's mouth twitched, wanting to say something important. He frankly couldn't believe he was doing this. Then again, a part of him did. It was like, he felt as if everything was leading up to this point in time. Of course that sounded cheesy as hell, but he really felt like this moment was fate. Was he supposed to meet Sonic? Were they supposed to have a rivalry? Were they supposed to become friends, and end up dating each other? Were they really supposed to fall in love? Everything, felt so perfectly placed. Shadow was someone who hated the concept of destiny, because that meant he was tied to a specific line in life. He hated anything forced upon him, and Sonic was exactly the same way. Yet, he could tell he was thinking exactly what he was thinking.

This felt like this was meant to be.

"...I-"

 _"Alright everyone, just a reminder that the night show funded by No Zone Corp and Warden Zobotnik is about to start in about three minutes. All attendants please report once again to Zenon Park for your designated seat. If you are viewing from a higher area, please remember not to pilot any drones, use light pointers, shoot your own fire works, or any other object that may obscure the army's firing range. If you miss the show, another one will start shortly after. One hour after midnight, the city will be closed. Please return to your homes for the night so local policemen can conduct a special night patrol. A stricter curfew will go into effect by tomorrow, so the lieutenant general of No Zone Corp encourages you to stay on your best behavior. Thank you, enjoy the final hours of the festival, and have a good night."_

Sonic made a small smile. "Show's about to start. We got a pretty good spot." He mentioned. For the night show, groups of different branches of their military will be in different locations in the city. The navy in the waters, the army in a restricted area on the ground, and the air force atop the No Zone Corp tower. One by one, they would each shoot special bullets or some other form of ammunition that acted like fireworks into a certain spot high up in the sky. For the big finish, they would all shoot at once, and create a huge spectacular explosion of colors and sparkles. The two were in a great spot to see the show from high up, but also close enough to the where they were shooting at. "Uh," The azure hedgehog chuckled a little nervously as Shadow was still on top of him. "You uh, wanna get off now? Don't wanna miss the show."

"Shut up, faker." Shadow whispered. The demand was very submissive, and almost meek sounding. That wasn't like him at all. "I..." He began again. "Sonic," He spoke his name in such a wanting manner. His hold on him tightened a bit, feeling his own breathing pace faster than usual. " _Sonic..._ " He murmured his name again.

"Shads, come on, what's up with you?"

"Sonic, the commander instructed me to do something tonight. He explained to me in depth what 'love' was." He elaborated. "I knew I felt something for you, the whole 'crush' thing. I felt that way for so long, and it increased as you grew up." He let one of his hands drift from Sonic's and rest on his muzzle. "Then, you told me not too long ago, that you loved me. I still didn't understand. I still didn't know if, I was ready for this kind of relationship, or if I was even able to be with anyone at all. You proved to me that I could." He pecked his lips and placed his free hand underneath his chin. His cheeks were getting rosy. "Over and over, I would remember you saying 'I love you', and I would think of Maria or Gerald. The commander helped me realized, that you aren't one in the same. You," He started to smile a little. "You're special."

With a muzzle that was basically painted red, Sonic's bright lime eyes trembled with an emotion that he familiarized himself with for a while now.

"You're more important than anything. Not just to our world, but to me. Spending this much time with you to a more closer level, was amazing. Everything that's happened to us thus far...Your anti-self, our fights, being trapped in No Zone...it made me realize," His lips hovered over his own once more. Shadow's red eyes, burned with the fire of something grand. "That _I love you._ "

As those words stabbed themselves into Sonic's chest, he heard the faint sound of bullets and cannons. Then the 'boom' of fireworks imploding into the air. He could barely hear anything at all. Anything that wasn't Shadow was blocked off from his ears. Everything was silent, so silent even as people cried and cheered for joy while clapping and applauding loudly. The navy ships blared with their horns, zone cops marched into the park while yelling along with their citizens with great honor. The helicopters that flew passed, the whistling and shouts of celebration, he didn't hear any of it. All he heard, was his own heartbeat, and Shadow's quiet breathing.

He said it to him.

 _He finally said it to him._

His heart was scorching, it was literally on fire. He felt like his entire body went aflame. How long has it been since a significant other said that to him? How long has it been since he dated someone who he really liked? Who he really loved? Who really loved him back? How long has it been since he felt like this? No, he never felt like this. Even for _her_ , he didn't feel this burnt up inside. Shadow may have been the very first person to ever make him feel as if someone doused him with gasoline, and lit him on fire alive. The morbid and graphic detailing of how he felt right now, was how strongly he felt for the ultimate life form. That's how much anxiety, passion, exhilaration, panic and happiness he was feeling right now. All of those emotions mashed into a big mess of a unified structure of one thing, love.

He loved him.

And he loved him too.

Slowly, Shadow brought those tan lips down onto Sonic's peach ones, connecting them together while closing his eyes.

Looks like they'd have to miss the show.

* * *

 _Ah...I see._

 _This is how you will awaken me._

 _This is why your maidenhead is so sacred, because once it is destroyed, you are open to so many possibilities that could lead to great changes._

 _You have listened and heeded my words for so many years, treasuring and waiting to give it up to only someone who is equally as precious as you are._

 _Haha...No, I do not think I could ever find anyone even nearly as precious as you._

 _Not even the older ones._

 _You were always my favorite out of them all._

 _...But I digress._

 _This is not a problem, young one._

 _Your purity knows no bounds._

 _Even as you lose your chasitity, you will never lose what makes you virtuous at heart._

 _Your heart is not of gold or diamonds, but of benitoite._

 _That said, I will protect you always._

 _But I shall protect him for you, as well._

 _I feel it..._

 _He will be tied to you, forever, even if there is failure in your love._

 _Soon, we will meet again after so many years._

 _My patience wears thin, my excitement increases as my desire to see your face grows._

Please _be safe._

 _And please, just wait a little while longer._

 _Our power will reach you soon._

 _All three of us, we will all protect you._

 _The only thing you have to do, is endure this war._

 _I promise you, you will be okay._

 _You both will._

* * *

Shadow closed and locked the front door, before placing the keys to the apartment on the small table that stood by the door. Before he could do anything else, he realized Sonic was gone. Must have went into the bathroom real quick to freshen up. Shadow then had a thought. Perhaps he should keep his jacket on. Yes, that would be a better idea. He then walked deeper into the home, traveling passed the kitchen area and the bathroom, soon entering their bedroom. Thank goodness he made the sheets before they left. It'd be pretty uncomfortable sleeping in a messy bed.

He sat down on the side of the bed, gazing his eyes into the floor as he thought to himself about what he told Sonic. He told him he loved him. He finally got it off his chest, and he finally felt complete. He granted Zonic's wish, and did himself a favor. He finally expressed his emotions correctly. It felt good, to say the least. It was only a few more hours until midnight. He wondered when they'd finally fall asleep. After tonight, they couldn't do this anymore. Because after tonight, things would take a turn for the worst. They wouldn't be able to kiss, they wouldn't be able to hug, they wouldn't be able to do anything with each other.

He had a high doubt that this would happen, but they could die too.

He felt this was real. This feeling, it was definitely here. And he felt it would last for a long time. For the first time, he actually hoped for something. He hoped this would last. He wanted to be with Sonic for as long as possible. He wondered, what made him hold back? Heh, it was probably Maria and the rest of his past. But Sonic made him feel like he could let that all go. With Sonic, everything was just simple.

Simple, warm and serene.

Speak of the devil, Shadow heard the bedroom door creak open. He saw Sonic's face, who was wearing a charming smile. He was a little wet, as a towel could do but so much. His hoodie was loosely dressed on his person, probably planning on taking it off in the room. He opened the door more and stepped inside barefoot. "You can go in now, I'm done." He said before tossing his shoes somewhere and sitting down on top of the bed beside him. His peach hands rose and grasp the zipper on his black jacket. He pulled it down, and revealed his white furred chest. He could tell Sonic wanted to do more, but he held himself back. After all, he wanted him to take it off for him, just to tease him. Shadow then stood up and leaned down to give a quick kiss on his forehead. He then walked out of the room while closing the door.

Sonic looked at his hands before leaning his face into them while closing his eyes and sighing. Geez, he didn't remember this being so stressful. Sure he'd be nervous sometimes, but never _this_ bad. It's been so long, and this was completely new for him. Hell, he never even boned a girl before. In fact, every time he was going to, he kept hearing a voice telling him not to. That, _this wasn't the right one_ , or, _this isn't the right time_. Whenever he listened to that voice, a relationship would end badly, because the voice was right. Every single person would end up not being the one for him. Anything intimate was always just foreplay. He just hoped he wouldn't screw anything up. He could already tell what kind of night this was going to be, and he already knew who would have which role. He just hoped it wouldn't hurt. Who was he kidding, it probably _would_ hurt. Shit...Now he knew how virgin girls felt. He self consciously closed his legs. God, maybe this wasn't a good idea.

No, no it _was_ a good idea. He wanted this. He wanted Shadow, and Shadow wanted him. Besides, he teased the guy for three days straight. He at least deserved this after waiting for so long. Poor guy probably had balls as blue as his own fur by now. In any case, Sonic was glad anyway and he smiled to himself. He was glad that Shadow would be the one to do this. No one else. Even if this was some sort of mistake, which he doubt it was, or even if they were to break up soon after this, he'd never regret all the time they spent together. Yeah, he really did love that guy.

He loved him a lot.

He took off his hoodie and threw it somewhere. No shoes, no socks, no gloves, nothing. He was nude. He then got in the middle of the bed and got in a more comfortable position. He crossed his legs like a pretzel and folded his hands in his lap while looking at the lone window. He could still see the fire work sparks. They were so pretty. Shame they missed it. Oh well. This was more important.

His ears perked up at the door opening and closing. He saw Shadow walk in just as naked as he was, and joined him on the bed. He threw his jacket on the floor, along with his shoes as well. Sonic could already feel his eyes looking all over him. His legs, his thighs, his arse, his back...He even took a double take at his face. It was funny how much he wanted to look at him right before they'd do it. Well, Sonic was no better, because he was looking too. They had already seen each other naked, plenty of times before. It's just that, now was so different. Everything felt different. Like they moved to some other level of reality.

Sonic decided to break the silence and cut the stare off. "You, know how to do this, right?" He asked cautiously. Shadow may have been 'experienced', but he was still pretty clueless to certain things like this.

"I've got an idea." He admitted. "Rouge explained to me that this would be pretty similar to, well, you know."

"Ah, yeah." Sonic responded with a light blush.

"Only difference, is that you have what I have, and entering you will be slightly more difficult."

"Ehh, yeah..." Sonic replied with less enthusiasm. "Geez, you're lucky I like you."

Shadow smirked. "I appreciate you volunteering your role."

"Please, like you'd agree to being the bottom." The hero held up his arm and dug his hand in the back of his quills. After feeling what he was searching for, he then retreated his hand and tossed something over to Shadow. The biohog caught it, and looked over the object.

Oh.

It was a bottle of lube. Huh.

 _When_ did he buy this again? Hell, did that even matter right now? He just blinked a couple times, before looking back at his younger partner. That was quite bold of him. Guess he was pretty serious. Sonic rose a brow with a smile.

"What? If you're not gonna do it, I'll do it myself."

He'd do it himself? Now that sounded interesting. Shadow then handed the bottle back over to him. He moved to the headboard of the bed and leaned back while folding his hands in his lap, his legs crossed. He had a very smug, shit-eating expression on his face. Sonic had half of mind to punch him right in his mug, too. He just gave him a playful glare and sat back. He spread his legs open to a wide degree, and opened the cap of the bottle. He spread his fingers out in front of the opening, and squeezed his hand into it. It squirted out a clear gel-looking liquid, and Sonic moved his fingers to coat them all accordingly.

Curious, Shadow asked a question. He wanted to start some small conversation before Sonic would do this, because he could feel himself hardening as of this moment, and the hedgehog didn't even do anything to himself yet. "How do you know what to do?"

"Easy. Watch porn." He replied carelessly.

"Wow." Shadow made a small laugh. What a simple question from yours truly. "Never thought I'd hear you say that."

Sonic chuckled along with him. "Of course the Hero of Mobius would keep that a secret. Being sexual isn't looked upon too nicely, especially not if you're a celebrity." He leaned over the bed and placed the bottle on the floor. He then sat back up and looked down his own abdomen. Well, it was now or never. "I uh, don't watch that much of it. In fact, I kinda stopped after my last break up. I mean, I was never one of those kids who liked to 'choke his snake' every other day of the week while growing up anyway. I was kinda laid back on that, with saving the world, taking care of Tails and all." His arm reached lower below himself. He closed his eyes and exhaled. He was really doing this. "I haven't touched myself in a long time, and I've never done _this_ to myself before." His breath hitched as he reached his fingers a certain place below his pelvis. "I-I," He stuttered, pressing one of his fingers against his entrance. "I-I uh," He inhaled quickly. "Watched certain videos and well, got the gist of what's supposed to go down. Ah," He gasped. Why the hell was it so cold? It wasn't cold when he put it on his hand earlier.

Meanwhile, Shadow was getting stiffer with every breath Sonic took. He didn't even push his digit in yet, and he was hard. Still, he seemed uncomfortable doing this. Perhaps he should keep talking to him to distract him from the pain. Maybe talking dirty would help him out.

"How did you touch yourself exactly, hedgehog?"

"O-Ow.." Sonic gripped his fingers in the sheets. He pressed his index finger further into his body. "Nm," The blue one bit his lip as he felt the lube slip his finger a little more in. "I would," He took his other arm and reached down below. He rubbed his palm into his crotch, unsheathing his bulge. "Do this," He rubbed a little more, clenching his eyes tighter as he felt his little one free itself and spring up with excitement. He wrapped his fingers around his growing shaft, jerking it upwards and continuing the motion as he pressed his finger knuckle-deep in.

Shadow's arousal was getting bigger. So big that it wasn't even hidden anymore, it sprung out from it's hiding spot soon after Sonic took out his. Seeing him touch himself like this was getting him hot, and he couldn't help that he was already as thick as a cement wall. "What else do you do?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"Shit," The younger cursed as he began pushing another digit in while taking the first one in and out. He was still rubbing his member, feeling himself become moist and leak from the tip. "Well, my fingers are kinda occupied but, ngh-" It was getting a little bit easier, but it was still hurting. The pleasure was making it better, though. "Sometimes, I would put one in my mouth and.." The elder could tell this was a little embarrassing to tell. "Suck on it,"

"Would you like me to help you with that?" The other offered sensually.

"Huh?"

Shadow crawled over and sat in front of him. He held up his hand towards his face, his dark fingers in full view. Hesitating, Sonic licked his lips before sticking out his tongue and dangling it over the tip of Shadow's finger. His lips wrapped around it, having his tongue suck against his flesh. It's been a while since they did anything naughty together, so the taste of Shadow's flesh was a bit foreign. Still, he didn't mind as it became more familiar with him with each lick. Staring at the hero suck on his finger was getting him even more riled up. He could feel his body relax, and his chaos wavelength was loosening up. Yes, he needed to relax so his digits could stretch him properly. "Does it hurt?" He asked.

Sonic let go of his finger momentarily to respond. "Y-Yeah. A little, but, nothing I can't handle." He pecked Shadow's digit and placed it back in his mouth. "Mmn," The elder saw Sonic's arms move a little quicker. He looked down, and saw the blue one's member dripping with precum. He was probably just as hard as he was. Then, he realized he was moving his hips to give himself a little momentum. Underneath, he could see his two fingers slipping in and out effortlessly. Chaos, he was so stunning. Breathtaking. He took his mouth off of Shadow's finger once more. "I-I feel like," He stuttered. "It's getting a little easier," He looked below and saw Shadow's erection. He took his hand from his own length and reached over to touch his instead.

"Ngh...What are you-"

"Stay still, okay? Besides, I've been wanting to touch it for a while now." Sonic gave him a wink before pulling at his leg to make him come closer. Shadow moved up a little so that his shaft was directly in front of him. The hero moved his position so that he was almost lying on his stomach. He reached over and grasped it, giving it a few rubs before leaning downwards and pressing kisses on the head. He heard his partner above him groan loudly, his legs opening a little more as his shaft pressed more into his face. Must have been happy to see him. It just kept growing bigger. Damn, how was he supposed to fit this thing inside of him?

He was determined to do this with him. He'd just have to touch himself a little more so it wouldn't hurt too much. He tried pressing a third finger in, making him stiffen up and shut his eyes tightly with pain. He didn't want Shadow to notice, so he tried keeping his vocal cords down to a minimum. He wanted him to know he could handle this, so he continued pleasuring both himself and Shadow. It'd be okay, all he had to do was do what he did before. Push in, leisurely pull out, relax and take it easy. He let Shadow's member enter inside of his mouth, hitting his tongue. Oh, he could never forget this flavor.

He opened his eyes and caught him gazing back at him. Meanwhile, the ebony hedgehog knew he was having a bit of a hard time with preparation. Well, he had a nice fix for that. "You're so good at this." He pet the top of his head, feeling a purr vibrate against his length. He loved that. "Do you like having me in your mouth that much?" He teased as the other moved his head up and down. He could tell his expression was turning a little more mischievous. After all, Sonic was a big flirt. Knowing this, Shadow continued. "I guarantee, every time you touch yourself from now on, you'll think of me, won't you?"

" _Nmm~_ " Sonic's eyes lowered playfully. He was moving his hands faster, rubbing it upwards and downwards on his large organ. His fingers were pressing harder into himself, his third finger finally pushing completely in. He could feel Sonic groan. He was probably feeling more pleasure now. He gulped as he pushed Shadow entirely down his throat. Shadow felt his legs shudder against him. That was _incredible_ , the way he could take it in so deep like that. He was a master at this, just amazing. He pet behind his ears, watching him purr louder with delight. Suddenly, he took his mouth off of his shaft, with his lips still lightly pressed against it. "You're holding back." He made a small smirk. "Choke me with it."

He wanted him to what?

The elder paused. "I'm sorry?"

Sonic slid his tongue on it. "Nmm. I said choke me with it. I don't mind gagging if it'll make you feel good."

This kid was going to give him a damn heart attack with that kind of language. Him saying that with his airy voice, with precum and spit mixed together while dripping off of his lips. Good lord, he really was something special. Shadow then grabbed the sides of his head, giving him a rather serious look. "What a filthy mouth."

"Betcha I can make it filthier." He grinned as he tugged at his member as a gesture.

"You sure? I may hurt you."

He squeezed his palm on it, causing Shadow to flinch with a hiss. Tch, still challenging him even now? He'd never learn his lesson. "Do it."

"Tch. Fine, then." He then thusted his hips while forcefully pushing Sonic's head down. Once he did that, he could feel some gagging coming from his end. But then he did something he didn't expect. The hero took his hand from his erection and placed it down onto his thigh. He then used it as leverage to help him push himself down even more onto him. His lips were fully touching his pelvis, taking in everything he could. He actually _wanted_ to gag. Goodness, he never realized how masochistic the hedgehog was. From behind, he could see him shove his three fingers inside of himself rather aggressively. He was moaning as he deep-throated him, his butt moving back and forth as he fingered himself. The more he pushed his hips into his mouth, the more he felt his sanity decrease inch by inch. He was losing his mind.

Shadow, with a breathless moan, pulled himself away from Sonic's mouth. Drool fell from his lips, gasping for air and coughing. He smiled at Sonic's expression. He looked almost delighted, and it seemed as if he wanted more. He took his hand from underneath himself and sat up to kiss Shadow. As they kissed, the dark one roamed his hands on his chest. He pressed his fingers around until he found his chest nubs. He pinched them and gave a small pull. Sonic gasped in the kiss, trying to continue their session as his chest was toyed with. Shadow stuck his tongue in the kiss, smothering it against the other's. After massaging each other's mouth organs for a couple minutes, the hero felt his ass get groped. The ultimate life form broke their saliva-stringed kiss and gave a slap to his bottom.

Then, he moved backwards and laid down on his back. He wagged his finger at Sonic, compelling him to come closer. Sonic sneered back at him, crawling in his direction and moving to get on top of him. He sat on his abdomen, and leaned down to kiss him once more. However, the kiss became rather short lived as Shadow had something else in mind. Something else that might help Sonic out. He grabbed him by his hips, and pulled his lower body closer. Shadow made it so that Sonic's bottom was on top of his face.

Then, the cerulean one gasped as he felt something wet touch his entrance. Shadow's tongue pressed inside, as Sonic made an opening for himself already. He was stretched, but they couldn't be too careful. This was, to say the least, extremely weird for the hero. He never had this done to him before. Actually, he was more familiar with doing this to females to their...well, private areas. But to himself, with another guy? In that place? It was certainly unnerving but, he noticed he was moaning. It felt good. Like, _really_ good. "H-Holy shit," Sonic covered his mouth. He couldn't believe this was happening right now. Fuck-Was he using chaos energy in his tongue?

Shadow's voice was muffled by his arse being shoved into his face. He rubbed his hands on his cheeks, and swatted them occasionally. Every smack at his ass earned the biohog a lengthy groan. If Sonic touched himself, he would climax all over the headboard. Even though he only did this for a little over five minutes, Shadow had to stop or else he'd finish too soon.

"Hey-Ah..S-Stop," The hero tried to say. A protruding tongue pressing inside of him screwed up his sentence. "Shit, Shadow, _please_...You're gonna make me..Ahh..."

"Hmph." He started pushing Sonic's lower body, letting him know he can get off if he wished. The young hedgehog stumbled himself off of his body and practically fell on his back on the bed. He was panting, closing his eyes as he gripped the blankets. That was almost too much, but it was fine, because he felt ready. Unconsciously, he spread out his legs widely, revealing both his hard member and his little hole. Shadow knew what that meant. He was ready, and he wanted it.

He rubbed his solid appendage a few times, moving on the bed to get on top of him and straddle him. Shadow aligned himself against his opening, and held onto one of Sonic's sides. The Mobian below him slowly opened his eyes, curling his lips into an innocent smile. "I love you." He murmured softly, raising his legs a little so Shadow could have some room. Hearing him say that made him smile too. He leaned forward and moved his hips. He was pressing in, making Sonic clench his teeth and close his hands into fists. Yeah, it was hurting.

"Sonic," Shadow said, feeling an upcoming sensation of sweet compression. "I love you, too."

After he whispered those words, he furrowed his brows and made a small thrust. Sonic sharply inhaled as if he was strangled. He could feel him inside. It wasn't all of him, but the small amount of him that was in, felt like a thick ruler. It was pushing in deeper, opening him up more and more with each centimeter. Hearing Sonic's discomfort, Shadow stopped his movements and pressed a kiss on his head.

"I'm hurting you." He stated.

Sonic shook his head. "J-Just keep going, please." He held out his right arm and grasped his shoulder. "I can take it. I want it."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes." It flattered the hero that he was concerned for his well-being, but he wanted to continue. He wanted to feel all of Shadow, give him everything, and take everything from him. Truly connect and become something more.

Seeing his determined expression to continue, Shadow rested his head next to him.

"Very well."

* * *

"Attention gentle-pricks and bitches!" Their leader commanded their attention.

One by one, heads lifted up with empty eyes staring attentively. Before the green hedgehog was a small crowd of Moebians disguised as No Zone citizens. Before Scourge warped here, he ordered for some of his men from Mobius prime to warp in after him some time later. He then told them to dress accordingly so they can blend in, and act normally. They finally arrived on the final day of the festival, acting perfectly. He gathered them up at night in the empty square of Zenon town, close to the park. No Zone officers had already marched to the firework show, so the area was empty for a small amount of time. Any cop who just so happened to walk by, was now dead. He had to be quick, as other stray cops may still be patrolling and lingering around.

"A couple words about why we're doing this, and what's gonna go down tomorrow." He frowned. He had transformed back into his normal appearance a while ago, as he would show his face to the public tomorrow. He pointed to the sky and spoke triumphantly. "Remember, we ain't the bad guys here," The hand with black painted nails, pointing at the stars, shined against the white moon's glare. "Those sons of bitches up there? They're the real problem. Those visions I showed you when I first recruited you, that's gonna be reality soon if we don't do this right!" He exclaimed. "I will hereby release you of my control, allowing you free will to serve me and fight to save your own species. Do not forget what you saw, don't forget who's the cancer here!" He then held out both hands over the groups of people, red and black energy forming against his fingers and palms.

The aura drifted like steam, flowing in their heads and spreading out miles away in seconds. This wouldn't just affect them, this would affect any other gang member who was in this world. They would see and hear through _their_ eyes. Just as planned, people began to regain their senses. Their true eyes that no longer had a small glint of red, looked around frantically. They wondered where they were, why they were here. Some were starting to cry and wail, remembering all the awful and horrible sins they committed while working under Scourge. Soon, some of them noticed the said hedgehog was standing before them, waiting to issue another order.

Some gasped in joy, while some sighed in relief. And one by one, they bowed to their knees. Some whispered thank yous, some begged for a way to stop their upcoming doom.

"Silence." The hedgehog demanded. Like a pen drop, silence sliced into the air. "I'll explain everything, as you're all still loyal to me." He placed a hand to himself on his chest. "I only had you under my control all that time so you could see our future. I needed to convince you that this is the real truth. Those who accepted it were already freed from my control. Those who still didn't understand, were forced to stay as a mind slave. But now, no longer are any of you still ignorant." He placed his hands behind his back to make a more formal position. "The time is nigh for some real cleansing, for some real purge! It doesn't even matter if we fail at killing Sonic prime, all we have to do is destroy No Zone and kill Zonic, the High Overseer. That will hurt their plans, and ruin any chance of spawning more of them! No foreman, no workers, am I right? After our war, I will then move to the final phase. I will deal with Sonic prime myself, and end this. Just remember your armor, and our formation. And also, keep in mind that even if you die for my sake, my plan will still live on. You will not perish in vain! I swear to you, I will save everyone! I _won't_ fail! I will be the **martyr** for the entire universe!"

The crowd cheered and cried for hope, thanking Scourge for his wisdom. He spoke words of truth, absolutely no deception. He was trying to save them all, he was trying to save everyone for generations to come.

"And now," He smirked. "I got a motherfuckin' class assignment for all y'all." Suddenly, his spiked bat appeared in his hand. He placed his glasses on his face and pressed it closer against ridge of his nose like a school teacher. He swung his bat around a few times, practicing to smash a home run. "Let's pay a visit to the big man himself, shall we? After all, there's still one more piece of preparation..." He turned his head towards the direction of No Zone Corp HQ. "...that I haven't finished yet."

Scourge was a very intelligent man.

From his past mistakes, he learned to always prepare a back up to his back up plan.

* * *

 **END - 24**

 _ **It's almost time.**_

 **So yeah, Scourge's mind slaves? They're willingly working for him now, for _some weird reason._**

 **No bonuses here, but I wonder what Scourge was talking about though...Seemed like a lot of mumbo jumbo if you ask me. I mean, he is pretty crazy, you know?**

 **Now don't worry, don't worry. I know I left things off on a cliff hanger with Sonic and Shadow, but that'll come (pun, entirely intended) quickly, I promise.**

 **Oh yeah, almost forgot. Another weird thing was posted not too long ago, pay it no mind. Or read it, whatever. Your choice.**

 **Don't forget, _please review._**


	28. An Antagonist

**Warning, _full on lemon._**

 **25 - An Antagonist**

* * *

Okay, this was a bit much.

Okay, maybe a little _too_ much.

...Okay, maybe there wasn't anything 'little' about this.

He actually felt the unadulterated feeling of being penetrated. It didn't feel that good at first, but Sonic could tell that he was getting closer to the spot that he was fingering. When he was touching himself, he touched a certain spot inside of him a few times that made him feel really good. Of course, Shadow talking dirty to him helped out, but he did genuinely feel some pleasure. He could feel a place that, if hit or touched enough, he'd end up climaxing. If Shadow hit that, things would get real fun, real quick. But first, he needed to get used to his size.

As Shadow pressed both his length and his body into him, Sonic gasped and gripped his fingers into his fur. He was almost completely in, and it was a little uncomfortable. This reaction caused the elder hedgehog above him to stop, and make a side glance at his face. "Sorry." He apologized quickly.

"I-It's fine, just let me get used to it. Alright?"

"Anything you want." The dark one replied smoothly, his tone becoming more gruff and husky. Almost as if he was talking in a growl. The hero loved that, it made his body temperature rise. Speaking of rising temperatures, he started to sweat. All in his most private areas, too. In between his legs, his torso and even his face. Anyway, Shadow on the other hand was secretly losing it. Sonic was so God damn tight. It was like a death-grip, a harsh and powerful hold on him. This is exactly what he was waiting for, what he craved for, what he'd kill for.

 _"I need you," Shadow said in between kisses. "I want to be inside you.."_

Yes, those words he said to him days ago, were so very true. He always wanted to be inside of Sonic, he always desired to feel his essence. He was so beautiful, he was so untouchable. The body of an athlete, flawless legs that were perfect for getting in between. That sapphire colored fur, so unnaturally alluring. Eyes as green as granny smith apples, as bright as the most lustrous emerald. The youth of his innocence was still so evident, yet he physically matured amazingly. He loved touching him, he loved doing things to him, he loved seeing his face gasp and moan. Hearing him scream his name, beg for release, it haunted his dreams.

Hell, he never realized he could dream until he met him. He always had dreamless nights, as he figured he was never meant to have dreams. He figured it would be, in a way, 'programmed' into his brain. But like always, this hedgehog made him do things he never thought he could do before. Heh, that's okay though. After tonight, he was going to send this kid to a grand paradise. Also, speaking of which, Shadow felt the extreme tightness loosen up a little. Actually, Sonic was so tight that he barely was able to move. Not that he didn't like the sensation of it, but it'd be a problem if he wanted to plow him.

Shadow's ear picked up on the sound of Sonic's breathing slow to a more serene pattern. That's good, he was relaxing himself so he could adjust to his size. He was so proud of him. He knew this was difficult for him. After all, this was the kid who was used to being with a girl. Now he here he was, volunteering to take the submissive role. This was a process that was both strange and painful. He wasn't used to this, and he probably didn't like it at first. But he was willing to do this for him, willing to give him what made him who he is.

Not a hero, but someone of purity.

"You said," Sonic started to speak to him. An ebony furred ear flicked at the sound of his voice being so close to him. "You said you wanted to be inside me, right?" He never sounded so, _ready_ , before all of this. "How does it, you know, feel?"

"Fucking incredible." The ultimate life form swore assertively into the nape of his neck. "This is the most, amazing feeling...There's no other way to describe it." He pressed a small kiss on the side of his neck, with the other squirming a little. "But, it'll feel ten times better once you feel it too."

The younger made sort of a pained laugh. "Oh trust me-ngh...I feel it. Like I said before, you're huge." He rubbed his hand against Shadow's back, just to feel him. "You must have made Rouge quite a happy lady-"

"Enough about her." Shadow curtly cut him off.

"Ah, sorry.." Sonic quickly apologized, as he understood the tone in his voice. Probably not a good time to bring that up.

"I just don't want you to think about anyone else, that's all." He gave a few more kisses, trailing down to his shoulder blade. "We're the only ones here. I'm the only one you need to worry about." He gave a small nibble, earning a small moan. He rubbed both of his up the sides of his body, caressing his torso and arms. "I'm going to," He tried to choose his words carefully. "Begin, now."

"I'm ready. I think."

Shadow pushed his hips forward, pressing his entire length inside of his lover. The pressure of his insides were so strong. It was squeezing him so tightly, adjusting and pulling him in even more. Chaos, it felt so damn good. Sonic was still looking into his eyes, watching him as he began to carefully pull out. Exiting his body wasn't that easy, as that's how much compression was placed upon him. Once he was out, he voiced a small grunt as pressed back in. A little easier than last time, he noticed. Sonic inhaled sharply, releasing a long sigh as Shadow extracted himself out once again. He was stretching more, making the path ease up on it's tight hold.

Another push, with slight more speed than the last. With every push inside of Sonic, he wanted to make sure the entirety of his member settled in. The more Sonic's body got used to it, the better the experience for himself, and him. It was just difficult for him, considering every push felt like a rigid metal ruler was pushing inside of him. But it would get better, and it would get easier. As of now, it already was. Just a little more, a few more times should do it. The steady and slow pace of their lovemaking, was actually just another stage of preparation in the hero's perspective. Just another phase until the real deal.

After maybe a few more minutes, Shadow immediately felt the pressure loosen to a more comfortable degree. Of course the tightness was still very evident, but Shadow could actually move around better. Because of this, when he went push in again, he accidentally thrusted. He supposed he got too eager just then. The action caused Sonic to moan. It wasn't of pain though, that was a sound of pleasure. Yes, that's the reaction he wanted. Shadow pulled out a little, and gave another thrust. That earned him another moan from the hedgehog below him. He repeated this over and over, until they eventually developed a rhythm.

He was going faster, he was penetrating him with less gentleness after each thrust. He wasn't going easy on him anymore, his erection pressing deeper into his body every single time. Sonic wasn't used to moaning so much like a girl, so he tried stifling his vocals by biting his lip. However, it wasn't working very well. He even tried to cover his mouth with his hand, but he still couldn't help it. "M-Mmnn..! Mmn..!" The bed was beginning to shake, pillows knocking into each other from the headboard. Shadow's shaft felt good, it was actually starting to feel _really_ good. He could tell he was still holding back though, he could go a lot harder and faster than this.

Shadow pressed a couple of kisses on Sonic's cheek, hugging his body close as he pressed himself in and out. "Does it feel good now?" He whispered. " _You_ feel good. _So good..._ " He grunted and thrusted roughly. Sonic tried to withhold a gasp, but the biohog didn't like that. He commanded him to take his hand off of his mouth, now. "I want to hear your voice. I want to hear you whine and moan. I want to hear everything." As punishment, Shadow shoved himself against him. That did the trick, as Sonic cried out from the sheer physically shock of the thrust. His voice became more breathless, panting with sensuality and desire. He was starting to sweat, with his eyes ominously giving a sign of hunger for more. He was smiling at him. Well, with a face like that, Shadow guessed he was finally enjoying himself. "Oh? What's with that face?"

"Let me ride you.." He requested with a lewd tone.

"My," Shadow pressed his fingers against his ass, giving another thrust before speaking again. Sonic groaned, arching is body and gripping his nails in his dark lover's back. "An interesting request." He lifted one of his hands away from his lower body, and reached the blue hedgehog's face to caress and direct it towards his own. He thrusted again while kissing him, licking and biting his lip like he tried to do earlier to muffle his sounds of pleasure. He opened his mouth and gave a few licks on his tongue, before disconnecting their mouths and pulling himself out of him. He placed his hands on the bed to push himself off of his form, and laid down on his back.

Sonic's eyes shined in excitement at the sight of Shadow's stiff erection. It was standing up on it's own, and it was moist with precum. He quickly crawled over to him, and moved his body to straddle him. In a way, the tables turned. With his backside right in front of Shadow's member, he lifted his lower body upwards with his arse precisely above it. He rammed himself down upon him, causing them both to moan loudly. Sonic's legs slightly shivered with intense sexual shock. On his knees while sitting in Shadow's lap, he placed one hand on top of his elder lover's abdomen. He pressed his lips together while closing his eyes, lifting himself up, and then harshly pushing himself down.

Sonic did this over and over, shaking his ass on the member inside of him. His efforts to pleasure Shadow even further were surely paying off, because the ultimate life form nearly cried out in extreme euphoria. Thankfully, it only came out as a groan. Just watching Sonic impale himself constantly with his shaft was enough to send him over the edge. His hips and thighs moved hypnotically on top of him, slamming himself up and down into his lap. Shadow shot out his hands to grab his bottom and grope him while helping him sway his body up against him. He was sweating as well, now. This kid was making him go insane.

"A-Ahh.." The young hedgehog's mouth stayed open as moans and whines continuously left his throat. " _Fuuuck..._ " His language just got worse ever since this relationship was established, Shadow noticed. As he rode him, he took his free hand and pleasured himself by rubbing his own nether regions. "Shadow," He moaned his name so erotically, he almost climaxed from that alone. But no, he had to hold out longer, because he was far from done. Compared to the long list of things he wanted to do to this hedgehog, they've only scratched the surface. The way he pleased himself while moving his ass on top of his length, he couldn't help smacking it. Did he already mention that he was beautiful? Because he was. He was the epitome of beauty. "Chaos..!" He gasped again. "Oh _fuck_ me...!"

Shadow smirked at this. "If you insist-" He thrusted himself in time with Sonic's movements, matching each other's speeds and motions for simultaneous self-indulgence. Using his behind as leverage, he helped Sonic ride him, humping him with rapid speed and even harsher thrusts. The hero made a loud cry, unusually sounding more emotional than he should have. That's how good it felt. The smile on his peach muzzle returned, making an expression fitting only that of an incubus. Shadow laughed a little behind all the groans and moans. "Ngh, glad to see you're finally having fun, faker."

"Ahh..! _Ah!_ Ahahaaa~" He laughed as well, never realizing how awesome this would feel. Well, Shadow knew one thing for sure. Throughout the series of Sonic's break ups, his sexual performance was obviously never the problem. "Don't stop, don't ever stop...Mmn.." He could feel himself drawing closer to his own orgasm, Shadow just needed to hit that special place. Once he did that, he'd show him something grand. "Harder," He panted. "Do it harder...Then I-Ahh!" He mewled. "I w-want you to...Shit.."

"Tell me what you want," The black hedgehog whispered back. "Please tell me, Sonic." Before he knew it, he was making a promise to him. "I'll give you whatever you want, anything you want." If he could, he'd give him the universe itself or more, if that's what he so desired. He'd do anything for him, anything that would put a smile on his face, or make him happy beyond imagination. That's why he didn't dare ease up the strength of his thrusts, because he loved every second of it.

"Nmm!" He gripped the fur on Shadow's chest, and made his movements even more erratic. At first, Shadow could barely keep up. He was riding the absolute hell out of it. "I want you to finish _where ever_ you want," He took his hand off of his erection and put one of his fingers in his mouth to suck on. "I'm giving myself to you, so I want you to give yourself to me. Every drop of it." He sounded hungry, ravenous for more. He was greedy and persistent. He wanted it that badly? Fine, then.

Shadow sat up on the bed, keeping his hold on Sonic secure. His sudden movements made Sonic stop while whining for the absence of his thrusts. However, he was still inside of him. He then pulled him closer, and turned them both around. He pinned the blue hedgehog against the headboard, and placed both of his legs on his shoulders. His back was against the board, with his legs straight up. Shadow used one hand to hold one of his legs still, while using the other hand to lean his palm on the bed frame behind Sonic's head.

He instantly hurled himself into him, starting up his thrusting motions over again. Neither the speed or force faltering, only increasing. Shadow then leaned forward and pressed his mouth on Sonic's, feeling his soft lips lightly open with moans. Their tongues entangled with each other, grunting and huffing throughout the session. Suddenly, when Shadow thrusted into Sonic again with great momentum, he hit it. Sonic threw his head back and screamed. It was so unnatural to hear someone like him make such a noise, the dark one stopped immediately, fearful that he hurt his lover drastically.

"Sonic?" Shadow called his name desperately through pants. "Did I hurt you-"

"-I told you not to stop... _Please_ don't stop, do that again, _please..._ " He just kept rambling. That was actually kinda hot. Uttering nonsense under his breath about being pounded into. That was enough to turn his arousal to a dangerous direction. Well since he liked this so much, perhaps he needed another little push so he could be properly satisfied.

Shadow smirked to himself.

This was going to be a long night, and he didn't mind that at all.

Maybe, ten minutes or so, Sonic was now laying on the side of his face onto a pillow, gripping the fabric of it as he moaned loudly. His behind was upwards, while Shadow's pelvis repeatedly slapped against his ass. His member drove in and out of him, diving into the depths of his muscles. Sonic wanted him to go harder, so he did. Tenfold.

He wasn't sure which position he liked more. They've already tried like, three of them already. They just kept changing roles, finding new angles to pleasure each other. Currently, Shadow was trying to find the best position that would help obliterate him-

-Oh. Obliterate was a bit of a harsh word, wasn't it?

"Nmm, mmgh..." The Blue Hedgehog resorted to biting the pillow, his tail wagging and thumping against Shadow's stomach. He was enjoying this a lot more than he should have. His ears sometimes flattened at how rough Shadow was being, but he loved it either way. He pushed himself up against Shadow every time he made a thrust, just so he could keep up with his rhythm.

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the sides and flipped over, feeling Shadow leave his body once again. Now sitting up normally, the dark hedgehog placed Sonic in his lap. He was facing him, his arse pressing into his length. He entered him again with no hesitation, moving forward and back as Sonic automatically held onto his shoulders. As he pleasured his partner in the hot seat, Sonic held one hand up to his tan muzzle and pressed a chaste kiss on his mouth.

"I'm surprised.." Shadow tried to say at first, but trailed off with a groan thanks to Sonic bouncing up and down in between his legs. Even if the kid wasn't experienced, good lord was he good at learning. He was just good at everything he tried. Fighting, chaos control, sex, he could do it all. "I'm surprised you've held out for so long, I thought you would have-Ngh...Finished by now."

Sonic was going to retort to that, but the need to practically scream into his shoulder blade ruined that chance. He mewled after he gave his voice a rest, still panting for dear life. He rested his cheek against Shadow's shoulder, now holding onto his arms as he squirmed and squealed. "Even if I do," His cocky voice returned to counter the ultimate life form's words soon after. "I got stamina for days, and I'll be ready for round two." He smiled, but another thrust caused him to roll his eyes to the back of his head with a sound of exhaustion. But no, that was just another sound of intense pleasure. "Oh God..." He whispered while clenching his body tightly. It was just too good. "Haa..Ahh..! I-I'm- _Fuck..!_ "

"Ah, speaking of which," Shadow leered. Looks like all that smack talk jinxed his situation. He was just about there, wasn't he? Good, time for another position. Shadow pulled out once more, and turned Sonic around so that his back was facing him while still in his lap. Shadow then laid downwards on his side, feeling the cool surface of the blankets hit his arm. He pressed his hand against the hero's abdomen so he could lie against him. Then, the elder male hedgehog looped his arms around him, trapping him in an embrace to spoon him. His dark red striped legs separated as Sonic's legs unconsciously spread. "This time I won't hold anything back." He warned quietly. Sonic didn't care, though.

"About time," He breathed.

Without anymore words to throw at each other, Shadow just made a toothy grin. He then shoved himself inside, and instantly heard a cry from the hedgehog in front of him. He drilled himself in constantly, rapidly hitting near a certain spot. Sonic was moaning louder than ever, meaning he was getting even closer. He could feel it, he could feel his climax rising to the brim. The bed rocked against the wall, leaving a mark into the paint as sheets slipped off of the mattress. Using all of his speed and power to destroy him, he grunted as he used even more energy to spread his own chaos abilities into the other's blue frame. Sonic's voice box nearly shriveled up from crying out and almost screaming so many times, so he could barely muster the ability to moan anymore. Shadow really wasn't holding back, he was going way too fast, even for him. He was being very rough at this point, but that made him love this joy-ride even more.

The chaos energy was warming his body, and he was very hot at this point. His erection was leaking more than ever, throbbing as it begged for release. His legs frantically rattled as he felt himself lose his God damn mind. He was going to cum, he couldn't stop it and it was rushing up to him so fast. It was overwhelming him, it was too much. If he let loose, he might even pass out. He tried to warn Shadow, but he was too invested in ravishing him to no end. "S-Shadow...!" He cried. "A-Ah...!" His voice failed him and choked up. Without warning, he then felt emptiness behind him, as Shadow moved again. Now falling onto his back with the ebony hedgehog's member still plummeting inside of him, he watched with wide lime green eyes as the other above him grabbed his legs and held them in the air. "S-Sha-AHH!" Holy shit, he hit it again this time. Once he did, he felt like the entire world collapsed and reformed itself.

Shadow didn't even stop, he kept slamming into it, over and over. Never ending, relentless hammering on his ass. He then leaned closer, painfully ripping his nails into his legs as he felt himself near his climax as well. He laid his forehead against Sonic's, before leaning even lower and going to a place Sonic didn't anticipate. It just happened so suddenly. First, kisses on his collar bone, then to his neck. And then, he felt a tongue, filled with chaos energy, slide up against the center of his throat.

Sonic hollered to the heavens above.

" _Aahhh!_ " He threw his head back against the bed.

"..!" Shadow's eyes widened at the feeling of extreme clamping around his member. Just as Sonic came all over his torso, he couldn't control himself, he ended up releasing too. He was draining him, he couldn't stop doing it. He could feel himself fill him up. It was so much, that some of it even dripped out. He felt Sonic's legs lower and press themselves against Shadow's back to pull him even more into his body. He moaned, letting out everything he had developing inside of him all this week.

This, was way too much.

So much, that his vision was...

* * *

 _Do you love him?_

 _"Yes..."_

 _Will you protect him with your life?_

 _"I'll protect him with every fiber of my being. With my very soul if I have to."_

 _Will you continue to love him for the rest of your existence?_

 _"...Yes."_

 _Hahaha. Silly mortal. A promise you know very well you cannot keep._

 _"..."_

 _If you agree to these terms, you will be tied to him forever, even if your love is a failure. Do you still accept him?_

 _"Yes."_

 _Ah, no hesitation there. Interesting. Very well, you shall be the ***************_

 _Oh dear. Can you not hear me?_

 _No matter...soon you wi...ee...el..._

 _..._

* * *

"...adow..? Shadow, are you okay?"

That was his voice.

It was at this moment, the most soothing thing he's ever heard before. He must have blanked out after that. He was still laying against Sonic's body, and he was still inside of him. He hoped he didn't black out for too long, he didn't want the hedgehog to feel like he was ignoring him. The younger was still out of breath, but his pants were a lot slower now. He smiled at the ultimate life form, and lightly laughed at his empty expression. He looked as if he just saw something strange.

"What's wrong? Did you see a ghost, or did you go to heaven?"

Shadow couldn't help but crack a grin. Sonic would never change his attitude in any situation. He felt him wrap his peach arms around his body, pulling him close to embrace him. Without a word, the dark hedgehog above him returned the hug, cuddling with him closely. "I, heard that voice again." He whispered. He never wanted to let him go. He wanted to stay in this position forever. He wanted to be inside of him for as long as possible. Not because of the pleasure, no, but because it gave him a very strange feeling of comfort. It felt, natural to be inside of him. It made him feel whole. He never wanted that feeling to go away. Though, he was sure Sonic wanted him to pull out now. "Do you, mind if I stay inside of you for just a while longer?"

The request caused even more heat to grow in Sonic's cheeks, if that were even possible. That was one hell of a favor to ask out of the blue. With a small laugh, the hero gave a squeeze at his body with his legs. "Actually," He trailed off while rubbing his hands down his arms. "I wanna go again."

...

Maybe his hearing was failing him. What was that again? "...Wha..?" The ultimate life form didn't even try to finish his sentence.

"I told you," Sonic lightly bit his own bottom lip. "I got stamina for days, Shads. Another round." He winked at him. "Right now."

"...I'm going to smother you."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Go for it. We've got all night."

Shadow found himself smiling again. "I love you."

The hero grinned in return. "Love you too."

* * *

It was unfortunately very easy to get back inside GUN HQ. It was no longer on lockdown, and that meant something bad happened.

Nothing changed on the inside. Well, except for the extra amount of corpses here. That's just great. Rouge almost puked three times, because she kept seeing another one of the few human allies she actually liked, dead and mutilated on the floor of GUN HQ. Knuckles tried to help her move fast and cover her eyes, but nothing would hide the stench or the images of their faces. Thankfully, Cream was still asleep, so she didn't have to see any of it. Vanilla looked just as disgusted, but she remained strong for her baby girl. Amy refused to acknowledge that death was even a factor anymore. She just kept herself in denial. Tails led the way, along with their new robot 'friend' whom he was riding on.

They walked in the private office of the GUN commander, and he was...

...Dead.

He shot himself in the head.

He was slumped against his desk with a pistol in his hand.

Rouge just growled and refused to look at his body anymore. A fucking coward. Of course he'd take the easy way out. Knuckles just shook his head and walked over to move his body. No one saw any able-bodied GUN soldiers when entering. They may have all died, or escaped onto the streets and fell victim to Scourge's mind control out there. Who knew? There was no longer any hope here. Knuckles dragged his body away out of the room, before stepping back in and shutting it closed. He then stood in front of the entrance, his arms over his chest as he made himself the guard of the door.

Tails, looking solemn at the fact the commander had the nerve to take himself out, moved to the center of the now trashed room. Papers were everywhere, some burned, as if he had something to hide before dying. Another gun was on the desk, but it was a different model. Blood stains decorated the room. He noticed, the room was clean when they left. Just before they returned, the commander may have killed someone in here in self defense. Tails tried ignoring this, and turned around to face the robot while everyone else took a place to settle down and rest.

The robot's head hissed, and small patches of air puffed out. A cyan light flashed, and it's head opened up like a lid, revealing the sleeping girl in it's body. It bent down, leaving it's opening in full view. Tails carefully reached and grabbed Fiona's body. He took her into his arms before setting her down on the floor and stepping around her. The robot closed itself back up, and their eyes lit up. They stared at her, and so did Tails. "So," The vulpine said in a moment of silence. "What do we do with-"

She coughed lightly, squeezing her eyes shut before fluttering them open. The young woman looked below at her feet, then her legs. She closed them, realizing what she was wearing. She then felt the need to cover her breasts as well, but she couldn't move her wrists. They were bound by riot foam. She groaned, now understanding her situation: she was captured. She looked up from her body and saw Tails and the blue robot in front of her. She would have scowled but, she didn't even have the strength to act like a bitch right now. She just looked back down and closed her ice-colored eyes. "What do you want?"

Tails couldn't even stop himself from twisting his face into the most abhorrent expression he could muster. " _Please_ tell me you didn't just ask me that question." He seethed.

Fiona could feel his anger and opened one eye at him. "I'll be honest, that face is pretty scary. Especially for a brat like you. But I'm serious," She brought her knees to her chest. "What do you want-Ah!" She yelped at the sight of a canon-arm pointed right at her. Tails tapped his foot while placing his hands behind his back. The robot glared down at her, and she quickly felt the gravity of her situation. "O-Okay, okay! Just chill the fuck out!" She looked at the fox boy with shocked eyes. "Since when do you threaten people? H-Hey! Easy!" She quickly added when she saw the canon light up.

"And everything you say just ticks me off." Tails grumbled. This grabbed the attention of the rest of the group. Amy stood up away from their allies to walk over, listen and watch closely.

"Yeah, okay, the feeling's mutual, now get this damn thing away from me!"

"Not until you answer a few questions."

"Fine! Whatever, I'll tell you anything!"

"So you'll tell me everything about Scourge and what he's planning?"

"Yes!" She cried as she kicked herself into a wall to scoot away. She held up her wrists in front of her face to try and shield herself, but then she heard the sound of the charging canon die down. The robot stood in place, but was no longer powering up it's weapon. Fiona slumped against the wall while sighing. "I, honestly don't care about hiding anything. I'm," She hesitated. "Done fighting for Scourge. I'm done protecting him."

She seemed dejected, and far too tired to even try to be deceptive. He could tell she was telling the truth. Tails assumed she had a change in heart since he mind-controlled, and abandoned her here like everyone else. She probably woke the hell up from that long nap she called a fantasy. Scourge was no ideal lover, and after all these years she finally realized that. Too little too late, though. "Good." He said. "First question, why did Scourge show up here in the first place? Leave nothing out, tell me every single bit."

Fiona made a difficult expression, frowning as she watched him and his friends glare right into her. She scoffed and shifted against the wall. "Fine. But pay attention." She ordered. Amy's hammer was no longer here, as it despawned, but she was more than ready to take her on if necessary. Knuckles continued to pay attention, his purple eyes watching her lips move. Rouge did the same, her sensitive bat ears ready for new information. Vanilla was still very confused as to why any of this was happening, but she would try her best to listen and follow what their hostage would say. Fiona sarcastically cleared her throat, and looked immediately at Tails. "After Sonic beat Scourge a second time, he was arrested by Zone Cops. Of course, none of you have met them before, so I doubt you know what I'm talking about."

Amy glanced at Tails with a puzzled expression on her face. "Zone Cops?" Tails looked just as lost as she did.

Before Fiona could say something else, their robot friend cut her off. "Zone Cops, officially known as Zone Cops Corps or No Zone Corp, are police that patrol all the zones of the multiverse from the Perpendicular Zone, otherwise known as No Zone, to ensure that all the zones are in balance and that the aspects of one zone cannot greatly affect another. They are an interdimensional military service, with an army, an airforce and a navy, among other smaller portions of armed forces." It explained in great detail, leaving Fiona rather salty and speechless. "There are several familiar counterparts in this world. This includes, a No Zone version of Sonic prime, a No Zone version of Shadow prime, a No Zone version of Vector prime, Espio prime, Rouge prime, Knuckles prime, and Robotnik prime."

The vixen had enough of the robot upstaging her, so she cut in with her own two cents. "Like this hunk of junk says, there are other worlds with different counterparts of all of you. But in No Zone, a large military force led by another version of Sonic and Shadow are in charge of apprehending dangerous criminals that are too great of a threat to be handled by their own world's means, who may have tampered with other worlds. And as you all know, Scourge and I broke that law plenty of times. So as I was saying," She leaned back comfortably and crossed her legs. "Scourge was arrested by Zonic, No Zone's version of your Sonic prime. Like I said, Zonic's one of the leaders, so he's top dog. Soon after, I got myself arrested on purpose so I could bust him out. Once that happened, he already had another plan brewing in that big old brain of his."

Knuckles tapped his hand on his arm impatiently. "Which was?"

"To kill Sonic, obviously." She rolled her eyes. "But this time, he wanted to go about it a different way. So he took a lot longer to plan everything out, watching him and his friends quietly among the shadows to carefully piece together every move, and every phase." She smirked at the sight of Amy's creeped out face. "Finally, he figured out exactly what he was going to do. First, go to a place called 'the shrines'. Now I don't know anything about these places. Scourge didn't even let me go with him. Said outsiders weren't allowed, or something cryptic like that."

Tails looked up at the blue droid and nudged it. "Wanna define what that is?" He asked.

"Speculating..." It idled casually. "Vital information attained. _**The shrines**_ , are a sacred ground similar to Angel Island." This made Knuckles flinch and blink his eyes. "These shrines are only available to a certain race, otherwise known as _**Chaos Born**_. Chaos Born are consisted of rare and gifted individuals with the ability to use large amounts of chaotic power. In Mobius prime, this includes Sonic prime and Shadow prime, although Shadow prime is not recognized as a Chaos Born since his biology was created unnaturally. Sonic prime however, is, which goes for the anti-Sonic as well in anti-Mobius." The robot paused as small sounds of vibrations surged through it's body. "These shrines hold great power, a gateway to where chaos energy originates."

"What?" Knuckles nearly gasped. "But, I thought chaos was born on my island?"

The robot debunked the echidna's beliefs, which in turn shocked everyone else, including Fiona. "This is incorrect." It stated. "While Angel Island is home to the Master Emerald, the Echidna Clan were not the original guardians of said artifact. All emeralds belong to the Chaos Born. Thousands of years ago, Chaos Born and the Echidna Clan made an agreement to keep their emeralds safe on their floating island, instead of keeping it themselves. For the emeralds' power were too strong to keep together on their territory. They were then forced to harness the great power left by the emeralds in what you all refer to now as 'the shrines.'"

In disbelief, Knuckles just stood there agape. As were Amy and Tails. They couldn't believe this, as they previously thought that was the truth for so many years.

The blue Omega model continued. "Their territory was already extremely powerful with chaos energy constantly surging through their grounds. The power was so great, it caused genetic mutation and became a great physical and mental health hazard. The emeralds made this worse, so they needed a solution to get rid of them, but have them secured in a place where they knew for sure they would be safe. Unfortunately, the Chaos Born were all wiped out by an unknown force, presumably by their own power. In modern time, the shrines are only available to surviving Chaos Born on their birth date on the very island they were born in. However, this year was special, as the shrines held power for Chaos Born to take for their nineteenth birthday."

Fiona snapped her finger and pointed with her index finger. "Ah! There we go, now I know what he's talking about." She took over the conversation. "That's why Scourge waited to take his plan into action, so he could achieve some kind of power from this place. He got three. Immortality, power stealing and a boost for his super form. If his calculations were correct, your Sonic went to his shrine too, and only got one."

Tails' eyes went wide. "That's why he left for vacation. His birthday was..." He didn't finish his sentence, as he finally figured out just exactly what was going on here. Everyone in the room besides Fiona was alarmed as well, now knowing why their hero disappeared to go on vacation so suddenly this summer.

"Mmmhm." She nodded. "Scourge predicted this, so he followed Sonic, and kidnapped him. Then, he stole a super form from him, a real nasty one too." He saw another wave of shock hit their faces. She laughed at them. "What, didn't know your hero had a dark side? Well he's got two of them, as a of matter of fact. Four in all, with the other two being 'pure', and I use that word loosely. Anyway, the form Scourge stole was basically some kind of demonic entity that's powerful enough to manipulate the minds of others. That's why he was able to do, well, all of this." She referred to the horror outside of the HQ. "Eventually, he got obsessed with Sonic and found me useless, so he mind controlled me too. He then planned to have me and his followers come here, and take over while he warped to No Zone to deal with Sonic himself."

Amy used both of her hands to scratch her head. This was a little too much information. "W-Wait, why'd he and Shadow go to No Zone at all?"

"Because we weren't in our home world, we were there recently. And they figured they could get some help from the universe's best military force to stop us. They're still there, if I'm not mistaken." She informed. "But Scourge went back to end it all in a full scale war, while we destroy this place and kill all of you. Should be happening in just about a few hours from now." She leered with a crooked smile. Tails snarled and took a step closer, which didn't stir Fiona in the least bit. She just stared at the boy with uncaring eyes.

" _Why!?_ Do you have any idea what you've done? How many people you've killed for your sick game?" He hollered at her. His arms were rattling, and his fists were balled up and tightened like stone wrecking balls. He wanted to hit her, sweet Chaos he wanted to hit her. He wanted to nail her right in her jaw, but he couldn't do that. He couldn't stoop to her level. He slowly calmed himself down, with Amy whispering comforting things to him while patting his shoulder. He sighed deeply, and continued to give a cold stare at the female fox below him. "My next question, what's your motive?" He asked quietly.

"Motive?" She repeated while cocking her head to the side. "Why we're doing all this? Well, at first I thought Scourge just wanted to make Sonic's life a living hell. But," She grimaced and looked down below at her lap. "The reason was far worse than I ever imagined." She lifted her head back up to face Tails. "Look, you gotta understand, Scourge isn't the bad guy here."

Rouge cut in this time, all the way from the corner of the room while holding up a finger. "Now excuse me honey," She began to say in a harsh tone. "But I thought a prick who committed mass genocide all over the world, deserved the title of villain." She narrowed her eyes at her. "Unless my definition is wrong, please explain how your lover boy is actually a good guy."

Amy agreed. "Yeah, no way someone who willingly kills people left and right is a good guy. Do you think we're stupid?"

"Honestly, yes." Fiona retorted with an angry expression. "Of course you idiots wouldn't understand. The real bad guy here isn't Scourge, it's your hero!" She yelled, shaking her wrists against her binds. "Once the war is over, it doesn't matter who wins. If Sonic is still alive after whatever outcome of the war, Scourge made a back up plan to end it once and for all. His plan doesn't just ends when he kills Sonic."

Tails really didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean it doesn't end there? Isn't that what he wants? Isn't that what he's been fighting him for? To kill him and rule over our world?"

"No." Fiona answered quickly. "That was never the case." She said with an eerily quiet tone. "The enemy, is anyone who's a Chaos Born." She confessed, striking everyone's attention. Now that they've been given an explanation as to what and who a Chaos Born was, they realized that Sonic isn't the only target Scourge is after. That's when the Omega model chimed in to give a little more info.

"Chaos Born originally worshipped four deities, who were believed to have given birth to them. Even now, their creation of the shrines are responsible for spawning more Chaos Born into the world. There is an unproven theory that the very Gods they worshipped were responsible for wiping them all out." It elaborated with the faint sound of beeps and...more static? Okay, Tails definitely heard it this time. There was static coming from it again.

Fiona took the torch and continued from there. "Yeah. Those are the real assholes. Those things they called 'Gods'. Well those Gods, are those super forms your friends like to use so much."

That truth, that reality...Was this what Scourge was talking about?

 _"The society that you all live in, is something I like to call, a 'bubble'."_

 _"A fragile, weak bubble that should be able to pop easily. That's how the world is. Nothing can flee from an inevitable fate. But thanks to your hero, you think nothing can hurt you."_

 _"No matter how well protected you think you are, that isn't the truth. But you all believe in his words, and trust in his actions because you hide behind his back. 'Oh he'll save us all! He's the hero of Mobius, we'll be okay! We won't ever have to worry about anything, ever.' That way of thinking, is so idiotic and gutless..."_

 _"You think something like that actually exists? You really believe in a truth that weak!?"_

 _"Your hero isn't here to save you this time. And even when he comes back, it'll be too late. Your world'll be doomed by then. Even if he ends up beating me, it won't matter. He won't save all of you. He won't rescue every single one of you. He won't make a miracle happen this time. You've enjoyed the brunch of mercy for far too long, and it's time for a new dish. You all need a taste of what it's like to live in a barren world of hate, and death. Then when everything is said and done, we'll see just how selfish you all are then. I guarantee, you'll never take your lives for granted again."_

Something hit Tails in the head. Not a literal thing, more metaphorically so. Because the impact of the revelation Fiona was trying to explain, finally found it's way in his brain. His baby blue eyes became small, and his mouth was left hung open. No, _that_ was the truth? This was the truth Scourge was trying to tell everyone all along? This was the thing he was trying to accomplish? He found himself backing up into the robot, nearly falling over his own feet. When he was hypnotized, he saw something horrific, but he couldn't even remember. The answer was there. He just had to think, he had to think! It wasn't even that long ago. He had to remember, he had to remember...Remember...

 _He remembered..._

Red...Yes, the color red. Scarlet. And there was gold, a dark blue and another color that constantly kept changing.

He, saw people. Yes, he saw several people. Among those people were four in particular, who seemed more important than anything else. The world was...Oh Chaos, it was destroyed. It was on fire, in shambles with wrecked buildings and civilizations. The people, were all one kind of species, which didn't seem right. The world of Mobius was extremely diverse of all kinds of races, so why did he only see one kind? Those four special people, they looked like hedgehogs. Hedgehogs? They almost looked like Sonic. Or almost like Shadow, or Scourge. They were all on some kind of island, some kind of weird place with weird power. There were too many of them. Too many to count!

That's, all he could recall. But what was that all about exactly? If his initial conclusion was correct-

...

Oh God.

Fiona couldn't even smile at the face of someone who finally could understand. "Looks like boy-genius over here finally understands." The real truth was no happy or laughing matter. Facing reality, was detrimental in itself. Knuckles was still put off by all this, and Amy was more concerned than confused overall. Rouge remained indifferent towards the vixen, but all of this information was surely suspicious. Amy gently tapped Tails a few times.

"Tails? What's up?"

"Anti-Omega," Tails murmured to the robot, ignoring Amy's question of worry. "Are those deities the Chaos Born worshipped, super forms of Sonic's?"

"This is correct."

"And," He inhaled slowly. "Are they active right now?"

"This is also correct."

"Fiona," He said her name carefully, almost pleadingly to the vixen. "Are those super forms, all bad?"

The female fox nodded her head with an adamant expression. "That's what Scourge found out. That's why he wanted to kill Sonic, because they're inside of him. But," With sorrow lacing her voice, she looked away. "He planned on killing himself too, to get rid of his own."

Amy demanded for her to stop talking. "Wait, wait, wait and wait," She repeated while holding up her hands, signaling everyone to cease. "You're saying, that those cool, pretty looking super forms he uses, are actually evil? The very things that saved our lives hundreds of times over?"

Knuckles added something in. "Yeah, and deities? Four of them? I've only ever seen three forms, and one of them I just found out about." He put a fist under his chin. "Though, that one was definitely bad, but not the other ones. They were good without a doubt." He then shook his head. "But Godly? No offense to Sonic, but none of them seem God-like to me, despite how powerful they are."

Suddenly, Rouge made a interesting comment. "I dunno...There _are_ a lot of things we still don't understand about your hero."

The pink hedgehog snapped her head at her with a scowl. "Seriously? You're siding with her? This is just some huge fake conspiracy theory!"

"I know," Rouge rose a brow while leaning against the wall. "But I love me some gossip, especially if it's a conspiracy. And I don't know if I would use the word fake, yet." She then looked directly at Fiona. "Let's not forget, ever since the Eclipse Cannon incident, which in turn made GUN falsely arrest Big Blue, they've been looking into his files for a loooong time. And guess what they found?" She held up her hands hopelessly. "Nothing, nadda, zilch. All we found out, was some dirt about his love life, nothing juicy." She rose a brow and gave them all a questionable look. "We don't know his full name, his full identity, his hometown, relatives, nothing. Red over there admitted he just found out about a third form that none of us have seen before. I hate to say it," The bat said. "But that boy's got more secrets than Mr. Sunshine, and that's saying something."

"In any case," The red haired fox interrupted rudely. "She's right. You all don't know him like you think you do. He's the villain for hiding all of those bastards in his body. _He's_ the bad guy! Those, **things** , are going to corrupt and conquer all of you until there's nothing left. Scourge is trying to save you!"

Knuckles growled at this. "By having our people kill each other!? Yeah right, don't screw with me!"

"Heh," Fiona smiled a little. "What can I say? Scourge plans good intentions through horrible deeds." She continued to mess with her binds, moving her wrists against the riot foam. "I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea why he thought killing a bunch of you would help our cause. Not like I could ask, I was a mind slave." She admitted, letting everyone know that not even she knew Scourge's true intentions in the end.

Meanwhile, Tails was putting together the puzzle.

If all of this was true, than this meant that Scourge's rant from before wasn't what they thought. Scourge wasn't angry because they were so dependent on Sonic, he was angry because they believed Sonic was a perfect hero, a good person. He was angry because no one realized the person who they loved so much, was the eventual cause of something terrible. When Tails was hypnotized, he remembered he said to his friends, ' _you have to face reality_ '. If these deities were just as bad as Fiona says, then it wouldn't be a surprise if they were trying to trick everyone, including Sonic, to make them think they were good beings. This was the reality Scourge was talking about. This is the truth he wanted everyone to see. The world wasn't flawless and untouchable thanks to Sonic's efforts, it was a safe place because the deities wanted everyone to think that way. And they wanted Sonic, their hero and _their_ puppet, to keep it that way.

And actually, when Scourge said _You've enjoyed the brunch of mercy for far too long...You all need a taste of what it's like to live in a barren world of hate, and death. Then when everything is said and done, we'll see just how selfish you all are then. I guarantee, you'll never take your lives for granted again,_ was he really referring to the people of Mobius? A world of hate and death, that's what he saw while being hypnotized. Was he trying to hint at something? To hint to, perhaps an inevitable future? An eventual downfall?

Tails found the answer.

"Scourge wasn't trying to destroy our world because we're all ungrateful and ignorant," The preteen whispered. "He's trying to end us all, because it's a better fate than what those deities have in store for us." He then stared straight at Fiona, who winced at his now dark and untrusting expression. "He's not trying to save us from them. He's trying to end it before they can use us for whatever they're planning."

This revelation didn't even earn him a gasp. Everyone was too speechless to respond or comment to that. If everything the robot and Fiona were saying was true, then those super forms were the cause of all of this misery. If it is indeed true that they were the cause of killing off the rest of Sonic's ancestors, would it really be farfetched to think that they would want to try and take over the world with their power to start over with a new reign? And who knows what other terrible things they did.

...

"Hahaha." Tails scratched behind his head. "No, Amy's right. This is a bit much, even for us." He made a small smile and looked down at Fiona. "Sorry, I don't believe you, alright?" He said nicely, making Amy smile along with him. That tone was fake, and so was that smile. Fiona could tell he was hiding his true thoughts, and she understood why. She wouldn't make a big deal out of this, she knew the kid was smart enough to realize what was actually happening.

"Whatever." She mumbled. She had a feeling Scourge's plan wouldn't fail completely if Tails could somehow confront that damn hedgehog about this, if he could beat Scourge that is.

"One more question, and then we'll work on taking the network back." He stated loudly so everyone could hear. "Any weaknesses we should know about? I mean, you said he was immortal but, that seems a little overpowered. There's always a catch in your world."

Fiona could see the troublesome look in his eyes. She hated both him and Sonic so much, but God did she pity them. They were all going to perish in the worst way possible and the only one who fully comprehended the weight of this was a little kid. His eyes looked terrified and betrayed, knowing that his best friend was a host for evil that would soon consume them all. Poor child, he shouldn't have gotten roped up into this.

The vixen closed her eyes and sighed. "Yeah, there is _one_ thing..."

* * *

 **END - 25**

 **The dictionary says who the villain is.**

 **Remember that.**

 **EDIT: Okaaaay, so here we are again with the late ass updates. Um, what can I say? Same bullshit held me back. Writer's block, college shit, school shit, personal life kicking my ass, etc. You know, I'm getting tired of telling the same damn excuses and I'm positive you guys are tired of hearing them. I'm updating this the day before my birthday, which I'm sure is going to be shit because of family issues persisting in my life, sooo...Yeah. Looking forward to a shitty 'celebrated' day that's just another day closer to my inevitable death of old age. Sorry, I'm a pessimist.**

 **Anyway, as for the chapter, a shit load of info was dropped on y'all, I get that. Some of you might be scratching your head like 'whaaaat?' while some of you are probably like: 'I don't give two shits about this, where's the violence!?' Truuust me, the big fight is coming. I promise you, it is. And for anyone who might be confused about all this, everything will be explained soon enough.**

 **Review, or don't, whatever. Favorite, follow, blah blah blah.**


	29. HE Wants You

**Warning: Scourge is going to be exhibiting _very repulsive_ behavior** **in this chapter. This includes a mental break down, some self harm, and a brief fantasy of abuse and rape.**

 **You've been warned.**

 **26 - Why HE Wants You...**

* * *

"Scourge has one weaknesses that I know of, and it's...Well, himself." Fiona said. Tails struggled to understand that. Now that was cryptic. After hearing nothing but silence from the kitsune, she went on. "That power stealing thing, is a double edged sword. Scourge told me Chaos Borne aren't supposed to come in contact with other forms that aren't their own, and that wasn't what that ability was originally for. It was supposed to be used just to steal powers and abilities, not super forms. He was told that if he were to steal another form, he'd be given a penalty. And well," She shrugged. "He already stole one, and he stole the worst of them all. I'm sure your robot friend can tell you all about them in a second. But the most important thing you need to know, is the fact that the power he stole from your Sonic, is corrupting him, and it's slowly killing him."

This brought about a light of hope to everyone. Tails, who nearly smiled but stopped himself from doing so since that was just morbid, asked if this was really true. "Really?"

Fiona nodded confidently. "That's not even the penalty part, that's just what happens if you steal another form. The penalty, is immediate death." She said. Knuckles' and Amy's eyes widened. "If Scourge completely fails in his plan to kill Sonic, that super form is going to kill him on the spot." She then looked over at the Omega robot, who continued to idle and just stand there beeping and staring. It apparently noticed it was the pinnacle of everyone's attention and began to process information.

"Speculating..." It announced. "Sonic prime has four forms in total. Two being of good nature, and two being dark. However, one is entirely evil and is a literal demonic entity, while one is absolutely pure. They are known as Super Sonic, Dark Sonic, and Hyper Sonic. There is no known alias for the demonic form."

The female fox added one thing, talking more to everyone else and not the robot. "Scourge calls it ' _ **Fleetway**_ '."

Suddenly, miss Vanilla had something to say. At first, her voice was meek, trying to enter a pretty complicated conversation with people who obviously knew a whole lot more about the situation than she ever could. Still, she wasn't an idiot, and she was following so far. "Um," She hesitated. Rouge glanced next to her, to see the woman clutching her daughter against her while slightly holding up her hand to gain their attention. Fiona tilted her head to the side to look behind Tails, which in turn made everyone else look over at the adult rabbit. "I've been trying to understand everything, but there's one thing I don't understand. Well, two things, actually." As she looked at Fiona with kinder eyes, the vixen saw how out of place this woman was. "Why is this Scourge person so obsessed with our Sonic? I realize that he wants to get rid of him because of these deities, but why didn't he try to do that when he had him captured?" Her tone was very weak sounding, as she herself didn't like that she asked such a nefarious question.

The red guardian rose his brows. That was a good point, actually. "Hey, yeah." He caught on to what she was asking. "Scourge had Sonic in the palm of his hands for weeks before he showed up in Mobius with him when he was Dark. Why didn't he just kill him then? Hell, why didn't he kill him when he stalked him at his island? After that fight between him and Shadow, he still could have taken Sonic back with him to finish it."

Fiona made a dour and envious looking expression. "Because, he doesn't actually want to kill Sonic. It's more like a need. He's obsessed with him," She looked at Amy. "He'd give you a run for your money, kid." The pink hedgehog blushed in response. After seeing that, the vulpine suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

Tails narrowed his eyes. "Wait a second," He furrowed his brows with disgust written all over his face. "Are you saying Scourge _is in love_ with my brother?"

Rouge groaned while face palming. " _What?_ " She emphasized roughly. What kind of bullshit was this?

Fiona nodded slowly, confirming their suspicions. "I don't know why he is, alright? Scourge held back. He didn't want to just outright kill him. He had a specific way of killing Sonic. To make him go into his pure super form and kill him that way. Don't ask me why, I have no idea, but he still could have utilized that plan when he was captured. And besides the fact of just wanting a big and bloody showdown, I've got my suspicions." She glared down at the floor. "I believe that Scourge isn't going to follow through with it. I think he's just going to beat him, and then keep him all to himself until everyone's dead and gone. That's why he found me useless, because he didn't want me anymore. Then again, he might have never did."

This information was, revolting to say the least. Not because another dude was crushing on their hero, no. It was because that same dude, was the same maniac who caused the deaths of thousands of people and tortured Sonic. That was just sick. Who knew what that freak wanted to do with him? Not that they wanted to know, but the thought was nauseating. In midst of everyone's immediate frustrated silence, Vanilla still wanted to ask her second question. This time, she looked at the robot. "And, why do you know so much? You know more about Sonic than we do, and you're not even from our world."

Again, another good point. This made everyone, including Fiona, stare at the robot with great skepticism. This also threw a few warning signs at Tails, who was already dubious of the droid. The robot mentioned and explained things Fiona didn't even bring up, such as the deities and the whole concept of a Chaos Borne. Fiona didn't say one word about either subjects, until it decided to give it's two cents. Why did it know so much about Sonic, and why was it willingly giving them this info? This meant that whoever was operating that model, has been watching both Scourge and Sonic for a long time. That was the last straw, Tails had to interrogate this thing, alone. The preteen noticed it was taking a long time for it to answer.

"What's wrong?" Amy frowned. "No answer?"

"I was created by someone who studied Chaos Borne. That information however, is classified." It said in it's monotone voice.

Tails scoffed. Yeah, of course it was. "I think we're done here," He deadpanned. He glanced at Amy. "Make sure she stays put." After seeing the pink hedgehog nod while saluting, he looked over at Knuckles. "Make sure no one comes in." The echidna gave him a nod was well. Tails then gestured for the robot to follow him to the back of the room, where the human commander's corpse previously laid. With faint mechanical stomps following behind the male fox, they stopped behind the commander's desk. Tails leaned his elbow on the surface and glared at the robot. "You wouldn't happen to know how to take down Scourge's network, do you?" He asked.

"I do." The droid replied. "I have computer access installed in my back with wi-fi emanating from No Zone's universal network. You may work there. Also," It quickly added. "There is a method you can use to take back your world's network, that can still hurt anti-Sonic. I can also help you get in contact with Sonic prime."

"That's, awesome, I guess." While that was indeed great and dandy, Tails couldn't help but continue to constantly question _why,_ and _how?_ He couldn't even be happy, because he was so suspicious of this thing. That seemed way too convenient. With a huff, Tails just instructed it to turn around. "Alright. Fine, let's just do this."

* * *

 _ **Day After the Festival**_

Last night was quite a doozy. Sonic kept Shadow up all night, and vice versa. So they slept in late, which was kind of bad considering Scourge could have attacked hours ago. However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and everything seemed peaceful. They did see more numbers of Zone Cops, but they already heard that during the announcements last night. Not knowing when or how Scourge would attack, Shadow suggested they eat and relax for a short while first.

When they woke up that morning, they felt really lazy. Sonic was wrapped in Shadow's arms, as they had spooned and cuddled before passing out last night. He called Shadow's name a few times, saying that they needed to get up. Shadow tried to keep him in bed, whispering that he wanted to keep him to a himself just a little while longer. They kissed each other and whispered 'I love you's while playfully teasing each other a little. After making out for a little bit, they got up and showered and freshened up. They then got dressed, no longer wearing their hoodie or jacket. Shadow mentioned they should leave them behind so they wouldn't get ruined, should they get ambushed by Scourge. Right before they left, Zonic got in contact with them via transmitter, saying that he tried contacting them all morning. Sonic felt a bit embarrassed, but nevertheless, they apologized and listened to what the commander had to say. Zonic told them to stay on their toes and to look out for trouble, as things were way too quiet today.

He also instructed them not to come to No Zone HQ, and actually told them to go into the city to do whatever they liked. He knew Scourge was waiting, hiding somewhere for them in town. Zonic already had a plan for that, and told them they needed to act as bait. Sonic and Shadow were a bit put off by the suggestion at first, but they agreed because they trusted his word. That's when Shadow suggested that they grab something to eat and get a massage. They already had lunch at a little cafe, and nothing happened.

Now they were walking towards the spa, determined looks on their faces. They were ready, but they were happy too. Sonic was smiling like usual, but he seemed a lot more radiant today. Shadow of course looked cynical, but he himself had a faint aura of joy surrounding him. They felt like nothing could mess up their mood, not even Scourge. They saw one of the ladies standing by the entrance, waving and greeting people. They were always so nice. Hm, she looked new. They hadn't seen her before. She was a green long-eared hedgehog, and wow did she look cute.

Long curvy legs, hips, big boobs and a really nice...Ahem. Her skin was slightly tanner than Sonic's, and she had a beauty mark next to her mouth. She wore an all white dress with short sleeves. The dress itself came up just a tad too short as well. She also wore white heels, and was gloveless. She looked like one of the massagers here. Her spines were long, reaching to her behind and looked more like long hair. She had some black eye shadow, and black lip gloss. Her eye lashes were nice and thick with crystal blue eyes, wooing men and even a few women who walked passed the shop.

"Oh, she's pretty cute." Sonic noted. Shadow then darted his eyes at him while squinting. The hero looked back at him and shrugged. "I'm bi, dude. I play both sides of the field."

Shadow just chuckled under his breath. "I know." He then secretly slithered his arm from behind and pulled Sonic a little closer while lowly whispering in his ear. "Just don't forget that you're _my_ quarterback."

Sonic grinned and nudged Shadow with his elbow. "Well excuse me, I didn't know my coach was so possessive of his players."

"Oh hello!" That girl exclaimed while waving her hand back and forth at them. That's funny, how did she recognize them so quickly? Ah, she probably recognized them from the festival. Duh. Shadow quickly took his hand from behind Sonic and cleared his throat. The blue hedgehog gave a charming smile and waved back, stopping to stand in front of her.

"Oh hey! Nice to meet you. You new? 'Haven't seen you working here before."

She shook her head and folded both her hands together in front of her in a pleasant manner. "Actually no, I've been working in the back. Doing the laundry, replacing hot towels, you know how it is." Her voice was very nice, and even a little raspy. She even talked a little more casual, instead of strictly professional like the other girls who worked here. Sonic took a liking to that. She didn't seem like a girly-girl either, and he liked that even more. "Everyone else is at home, 'sick'." She used her black painted manicured nails as physical air quotes. Oh, both hands were manicured, but only one hand had black nail polish. She scowled and rolled her eyes. "They left me here with a couple of workers, but I'm the only masseuse who showed up today."

Both hedgehogs blinked. "Woah, for real? What gives?" Sonic frowned along with her.

"I dunno, everybody got spooked once all the Zone Cops came flooding in. Rumor's going around that something's gonna pop off." She explained. She sighed and threw up her hands in a shrug. "What're you gonna do? I've worked alone before, and today's been pretty slow." She smiled at them and held out her hands for them to take. "Come on, I'm sure I can get you guys a nice work-down." Sonic easily took her hand, and Shadow reluctantly did the same. She then pulled them into the spa, the doors closing the second they stepped in.

Now following her passed the regular massage beds and the pedicure chairs, they walked directly to the back. Not where the laundry room was, but the room next to that. While they walked, they noticed literally no one was in here. To be fair, they didn't really see any citizens walking around town either. Shadow also noticed that Sonic kept staring at this woman's ass, constantly. He had half of mind to yank him by the ear and tear it off. No, he couldn't say anything. He didn't really have the right to. After all, he stared at Zonic a lot, which annoyed Sonic to no end. He had to play fair-

"You know, you're really cute." Sonic suddenly complimented her. "I mean, all the massagers here are kinda attractive, but you're the cutest one I've seen yet."

Shadow almost forgot Sonic was probably the biggest flirt of all time. He hissed to himself and tried not to pay it any mind. The woman giggled and blushed a bit. She stopped in front of the private massage room and let go of their hands. She bashfully looked to the side and poked her fingers together. "Ohh, being complimented by you is, well, really amazing. Thank you." She then placed her hand on the door knob and turned it. She pushed open the door, and stepped aside to let the gentlemen in. Sonic and Shadow always came back here, since they were heroes.

It was a bit strange though, because the lights were off and the only source of light was coming from the window thanks to the sun. Shadow and Sonic walked passed the more luxurious massage beds and sat down on the massage chairs. Sonic mentioned that they couldn't do a full body massage today, they were in a bit of a hurry. Just in case something happened, he didn't want to be without his shoes. "Just a little on the back, okay?"

"Oh no full body? No problem." She looked at Sonic. "How about I start with you first, then I'll give you a hot towel and move on to Mr. Shadow here?" Shadow gave a silent nod and closed his eyes while crossing his arms. He heard the sounds of heels click next to him, and felt that she turned the chair's function on. It began to lightly vibrate, giving him some satisfaction. The hero of Mobius then stood up and moved over to sit down on the bed. The woman walked to the side of the bed, now directly behind him. She cracked her knuckles and flexed her fingers. "Now please, relax." She whispered soothingly, while raising her hands up on Sonic's blue back and placing her palms on his fur. Shadow carefully opened one eye and watched her closely.

Her hands glided over his muscles, feeling his shoulders and arms. For some reason, he wanted to rip her off of him and kick her in the teeth. Which was weird, because he normally didn't feel jealous when Sonic got a massage. Hell, they even got fully nude in here before. They got touched by girls all over, and he never got like this. It was probably because of the way Sonic flirted with her. He never really flirted with the other ones, but he took a liking to this one. Gah, he sounded like an insecure high school girl.

He flinched when he heard Sonic moan. Shadow grit his teeth. That fucking hussie, she was smirking! "Mm, that feel good~?" She murmured to him. That little bitch. Her hands went even lower, touching his lower back. She was getting way too close to his tail. Sonic's eyes were now closed while making airy noises from his mouth. She dragged her nails over his arm, her lips nearing closer to his ear. "Yes, just relax..." She trailed off as she moved her hand even farther down. Shadow was about to jump out of the leather cushioned chair, until she suddenly stopped. Her eyes went wide, and she looked horrified for some reason. Okay, what was her deal? Her hands then became less graceful, patting Sonic's back down all over. She looked frantic, getting paranoid. She looked as if she lost something seriously important. "No, no no..!" She hissed.

Sonic tilted his head questionably. "Something wrong?"

"U-Uh," She stuttered. She tried to smile again and took her hands off of him. She backed away slowly and began to sweat a little. "Err, no. No, not at all sir! Haha, I just," Her body shivered a little. "Just, didn't realize...Ah, you know what? I'll get you the hot towel, and then I'll work on Mr. Shadow. Okay? Okay." She spoke so quickly, Sonic didn't even have time to react. She just abruptly turned and walked out of the room. With a heavily confused expression, Sonic looked at Shadow, who in turn looked just as surprised as he did.

Not a minute later, the woman rushed in with a steaming hot towel, and walked over to gently lay it upon Sonic's face. He winced a bit at the temperature, but he soon sighed in bliss. She guided him off of the bed and towards the other massage chair. He sat down, and felt that the chair was turned on. Aah, now that felt nice. He leaned back and enjoyed his relaxation while Shadow stood up from his seat. He scowled at her, but she didn't catch it. He just walked over to the other bed, and sat down with his back facing her.

He heard her come from behind, and touch her warm hands against his body. He swore to himself that he wouldn't enjoy this, he hated this woman. Her hands moved around his muscles, doing nearly the same thing she did to Sonic, with less touching near his ass. How peculiar. She didn't whisper anything to him either. After a few minutes of rubbing out some cricks in his back, she instantly shoved Shadow down onto the bed. His face now hitting the pillow, he growled and tried looking from behind. The hell was that for? However, he couldn't move his head to look around, because her hands were against his neck. Was this whore choking him!? His mouth was muffled by the pillow, so he couldn't alert Sonic, and he was sure that loud ass chair was on the highest setting.

The woman's nails stung and scratched at his neck, as he was shoved even more against the bed with his oxygen decreasing little by little. "Almost done sir~!" She said delightedly with a demented smile. "Maybe we should do a pedicure next. How would you like it by the way?" She spoke rapidly, her voice barely keeping up with her words. "Hot towel? No towel? Mint? Peppermint? Manicure? You could have nails just like mine!" She laughed manically. "Or shall we do..."

Just then, her voice became a lot deeper, and lot huskier. Masculine.

"... _a blood facial?_ "

Immediately, Shadow twisted his body around by using all of his strength, and tried shoving something against the woman's face. She was quick, and moved just as fast as he did. She moved her head to the side and quickly rose her leg to slam it down against Shadow's abdomen, her heel poking his stomach. He clenched his teeth, more in anger than pain. She was aiming the very thing he tried throwing at her: A chaos spear, directly in his face. Black chaos energy corrupted it, surging throughout her hand as she made the most malice-inducing sneer he ever saw.

"Ha!" She laughed a deep hearty cackle. However, behind that smile was rage beyond Shadow's imagination. A few veins were thumping on her head, and her temple was even red. Chaos, she was steaming. What the hell pissed her off? "You little shit," She cursed. "You fucked him last night, didn't you?" She hollered.

"..Shadow?" He heard Sonic whimper. He tried looking away from the woman, and saw his lover shaking like a leaf in the chair. He looked as if he couldn't move. "I-I, I can't move. It's so c-cold.." He trembled, the towel still stuck against his face and covering his eyes.

The woman shook her head. "I should have known you'd end up doing it. I just figured Blue over here would play that abstinence role a little bit longer. Guess I was wrong." Before Shadow's eyes, those breasts began to shrink. Her arms and her entire figure became less skinny and a little more muscular. That nice fanny of hers shrunk a bit as well, and her legs weren't so curvy anymore. Scars appeared all over, and those quills got a little smaller and more jagged. The make up disappeared, and those thick eye lashes weren't as long. The beauty mark vanished, and more scars replaced it's spot on her face. The white high heel stepping on him was now a black steal toe combat boot. The white dress became a hooded black varsity jacket with a skull on the back of it.

The only things that didn't change, was the fur color, the skin color, the eyes, and the one hand with the black nail polish.

"Bum bum _buuuumm!_ " Scourge stomped on Shadow's stomach. "It's me, bitches." He snarled, his smirk turning into a frown almost automatically. Was this guy bipolar? "You fucking fucked him. You really did it! You dirtied him!" He screamed. "I should fucking slaughter you for that! You miserable," He stomped on him again, earning a painful groan from Shadow. He didn't stop. "Ugly," Another stomp. " _Fake...!_ " Another. " _-Motherfucker!_ I SHOULD KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!" His teeth were sharp and barred, his ears were almost that of a devil horns. His eyes were so shrunken from his own madness and unforgiving wrath, that one of them even turned black and red. Shadow realized, this kid was absolutely nuts. He began laughing, crushing the chaos spear in his hand like nothing. He tilted his head back, taking his foot off of Shadow and placing both hands over his face. "Hahahaha! _AHAHAHAAA...!_ "

Shadow was now coughing and struggling to sit up on the bed to move. Scourge's nose was-It was bleeding. His eyes were flickering from red to blue, red to black, blue to black, black to white. His irises didn't know what color it wanted to be. His quills were raising in the air, and his expression just became more inhumane by the second. He looked like an actual demon spawn.

"Tell me," He whispered. "How was it? Was he tight? His little virgin ass..!" He cried. "God, he probably felt so fucking good! Touching him, groping him, pulling him, fucking him! _Raping him!_ " He hugged his arms to his chest, drool spilling from his bottom lip as he fantasized. His legs even tucked together, as if he was trying not to have an accident right in front of them. "Oh fuck me, he was probably so fucking good, so fucking warm!" He yelled. " _I_ wanted to touch him, _I_ wanted to be inside of him, _I_ wanted to love him!" That grin of his became, actually, sorrowful. He grabbed his hands at the sides of his head and began pulling at his fur, even pulling some of it out and tossing it to the floor. Was he-Was he crying? "B-But I didn't...I-I failed, and I..." He sniffled. "I-I..! Oh no," His voice cracked, backing himself up into the wall while gripping his nails into his face so hard, that blood pooled. "I can't break him, I can't steal him, I can't take it!" He beat his fists against his head so hard, bruises began to appear. "I can't take it, I can't I can't _I can't!_ You!" He pointed at Shadow angrily. "You took it away, and you can't give it back!" As tears dropped onto the floor, Shadow honestly didn't know if he should attack, or just stay away.

This kid was having a mental break down. He was destroying himself.

Then he started whispering to himself. Rubbing his hands against his arms up and down to try and soothe himself, but nothing was working. "Everything's okay, everything's okay. I'll just make him forget that he lost his virginity, and then I can rape him all over again." His eyes were twitching, cross-eyed and crooked. Soon, his eyes almost rolled to the back of his head, grinning like a maniac. "I can love him, I can love him, _I will_ love him I will..."

"Hey!" A voice shouted. This sudden shout made Scourge wince and back himself even more against the wall while clutching the sleeves of his jacket. He slowly looked upwards, and saw a panting Sonic rudely throw the now luke warm towel at his face. "The hell is wrong with you!?" He hissed. "You're a damn mess! Pull yourself together!" He wobbled over to Shadow, who quickly grabbed him to help him keep balance. "If you think I'm gonna let you fight me like _that_ , then you're dead wrong." He pulled at Shadow's wrists and ran with him out of the private room. They bolted out of the building and nearly stumbled outside.

Meanwhile, Scourge just continued to laugh while crying. He felt Sonic's chaos energy. It was organized, wide, straight, bulky, thick, and loose. Sonic the Hedgehog was no longer the virgin he lusted after. He lost his chance.

...

Geez, how embarrassing. He let out his cray-cray side. The side he tried to bury, along with his past. That was the old Scourge. The Scourge who was tortured, beaten, insane, scared and vulnerable. That was the weak Scourge. No, he couldn't let them see this side of him again. No one could see this side of him, ever again. He grabbed the towel that fell on the floor, and used it to clean his face. Heh. Sonic was right. He couldn't fight him like this. This was pitiful.

But soon, he would get what he wanted.

Soon, he would be his.

All, his.

He could picture it now. A bloodied Sonic, beaten and gagged with a sock. Cum all over his body, whimpering and mumbling cries for help. Bruises painting him from head to toe, his legs opening only for him. His legs slashed with gashes and cuts, his mouth dripping crimson as he beat him over and over. Tears, vomit and urine soaked together, leaking from within his body thanks to constant punches to the stomach. Either that or the electro shocks from the cable wires attached to his skin. Fur ripped off from how hard he grabbed him, quills missing and dead on the floor. His bottom sore and red, his little one restricted with a cock ring. Scourge, standing over him, holding him. Shushing him, and cradling him. Kissing his face, licking the blood and cum from his body. Telling him that everything would be okay. Then he'd heal him, clean him up and free him, just to have Sonic on his knees begging for more and calling him 'master'. His own little Sonic, his own little hero, his own little toy.

His own little slave.

His only love.

* * *

Alright, no seriously, that was the most fucked up thing Shadow ever witnessed in his entire fifty-something-year old life.

He was tortured before, he killed people, and he's seen some real fucked up shit. But that break down? Maybe the most terrifying thing he's ever seen. That kid-No, that _thing_ , has some serious God damn problems. He was more than just crazy, he was more than just 'insane'. This child, was so broken, so disturbed, that Shadow was convinced nothing could help him. No therapist, no shrink, no nothing could fix this doomed soul. He was doomed, to live a life of horror, mania and absolute chaos. Sonic was right. This child was more than just a villain, he was a weapon. A knife. A knife that was so dangerous, he wasn't even safe from cutting himself.

As Shadow helped Sonic walk away from the massage place, he saw Zone Cops rushing to their side and asking them if they were okay. Shadow briefly told them that the man of the hour arrived, and that he was inside of the building crying and laughing. He warned them to stay away, and that he was extremely unstable. Sonic had a headache, as he was previously hypnotized by Scourge. He thought he was in a deep freezer, paralyzed with solid ice with water constantly pouring on him. Shadow's neck and stomach were sore, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before.

He asked if Sonic was okay, to which he just nodded. But he knew he was a little freaked out. Not just from the vision, but from Scourge too. "When he started losing it," The hero said. "His power screwed up and I broke out of his control. Using chaos energy doesn't do anything anymore, it's not powerful enough to stop it." He pointed out. When Shadow threw a chaos spear at him, it didn't do jack shit. Sonic was still in the illusion during that time. That, was going to be a problem.

"Are you in any pain?" He asked softly.

Sonic smiled a little from his concern. "My head still hurts a lot." He leaned most of his body weight against Shadow, clinging to him as they walked. His body felt weak as well. "I'm just glad it's over."

Shadow grimaced as he saw Zone Cops sprint towards the spa, surrounding the building with guns and modified batons. He instinctively pulled Sonic closer to his body. "No, this is far from over. Call it a hunch," He looked away. "But I can tell this is going to last for a long while."

A loud crash resonated against their ears. Glass, wood or brick suddenly smashed out into the streets. Out of the now destroyed entrance to the spa, Zone Cops were physically being tossed and thrown outside. They landed on their faces or helmets, some of them even landing their bodies in piles. Some were groaning in annoyance or pain, while some didn't make any noise at all, as they were unconscious. Sirens flashed and helicopters turned their propellors. Choppers were now flying above the spa, while floating Zone Cop cars whizzed passed the hedgehogs.

A few more Zone Cops ran out of the spa while carrying the unconscious bodies of the other masseuse ladies and some of their helpers. Some of them were bloody, and Shadow immediately thought of the worst. Then, a loud BOOM burst from within the shop and a green streak whirred onto the streets. Scourge slowed to a stop, now a few yards away from the two hedgehogs. He looked a lot better, looking more smug than crazy. The patches of fur he ripped out of his head must have healed, as did the gripping fingers wounds on his face and self inflicted bruises on his head. He was no longer crying, or snotting up a storm, and his eyes looked relatively normal. Any nearby citizens had either ran away, or was escorted out of the area by other officers.

Scourge put up both hands in the air, then held them out in front of him. His wrists just waiting to be cuffed. He sneered and shuffled back and forth in excitement. "Come on, come oooonnn.." He teased the officers. "Come get me! Come and get me!" Come on, come on," He taunted playfully. Sonic tapped Shadow several times.

"Call Zonic." He said.

Shadow was already taking his hand out of his quills and holding the transmitter near his lips. He head some static, and began to speak. "Commander, he's here, just as you instructed. Down town. Faker and I are coming to HQ."

 _"Come here as quickly as you can. More than eighty percent of the city has been evacuated. Do not engage with him, do not look at him. My soldiers will do the best that they can for now, and act as a distraction before initiating one of the traps I planned. We shall go over our strategy one last time."_

"Affirmative." The ebony hedgehog placed it back in his spines, and pulled at Sonic's arm while skating forward. They both sped their way forward, leaving behind Scourge and the other officers. They were nearly at full speed, almost causing a sonic boom when running. Scourge smirked at them as they ran beside him, leaving him in the dust. He wasn't phased, and continued to play with the police. Sonic, with a faint headache, looked behind them while running and saw that Scourge had crouched down on his knees. He was in a track runner position, and he was facing both him and Shadow. Hey, wasn't that the same move he did when he was in Moebius-

Oh shit.

Sonic gripped Shadow's wrist tightly and prepared his legs to do a full sprint. "Get ready to chaos control!" He warned. Shadow heard the worry in his voice, and charged some power in his body. They sped forward, now going top speed throughout the city. They heard another BOOM go off in the background, and that meant Scourge was coming, along with a barrage of police cars and angry No Zone soldiers right behind him. Shadow huffed as he pinpointed a spot to teleport away, looking immediately at the headquarters in the distance.

"Chaos-" He felt that Sonic was still holding on, and didn't waste another second. "-Control!" In a flash of green light, they appeared directly in front of No Zone Corp Tower. Sonic let go of his arm and saw more Zone Cops scurry out of the tower and run out into the streets. Scourge was still running this way, destroying and trampling anything that was in his way. Vehicles, people, objects, didn't matter. His hands were in his jacket pockets, cackling loudly as he came closer and closer. Just when everyone thought he was going to collide with the tower, he made a sharp right turn down the street and decreased his speed. Sonic rose a brow, what was he trying to do?

A few soldiers tried shooting at him, but they either missed or barely grazed him. That is, until one stray shot nailed Scourge right in the back of his neck. Sonic hissed with a wince from seeing that, while Shadow narrowed his eyes. If the front of the neck was Sonic's G spot, then the nape of the neck must have been a weak point for Scourge. The bullet the cop shot didn't tear through any skin, and it looked as if it bounced right off of him, but it got him right in the tip of his spine. Scourge clenched his eyes shut tightly, gasping and crying out while shooting up the palm of his gloveless hand to cover his neck.

His knees buckled and he fell forward. He got down on his kneecaps and shuddered. The large group of soldiers circled around him, aiming their weapons at him silently. Shadow almost smiled. He knew that would-What in the hell!?

" _Ooaahh_ fuuuck.." The green hedgehog moaned while making a very sultry smile. "I hadn't been hit there in such a long time," He breathed. "Guess that's my fault though, wearing a jacket that doesn't really cover up my neck. Ooohh..." His face was now beet red, and his legs were shaking. He bashfully began to stand up as he continued to cover the back of his nape. He winked at the soldier who shot him there, and gave him a finger gun. "Real smooth buddy~ Nailing me in a dirty place like that. How'd you know that was my sweet spot~?" The cops were taken aback by this, but didn't move their weapons away.

Shadow just face palmed. Of course it'd be a G spot for him. Or hell, maybe it wasn't and that weirdo was just a huge masochist. Sonic cringed with a scowl and his ears flattened at his distasteful behavior. Gross. Then, the sound of heavy military boots clicking against the surface of the ground caught their attention. Zonic, who looked extremely furious, marched down the long steps of the HQ with a transmitter in hand. He barked and yelled some orders at any soldiers who were close by, instructing them to retreat and return to their appropriate posts. "Get back to your designated areas, now!" He harshly ordered. The nearby soldiers saluted and did as they were told, running off into different directions away from HQ.

The men and women aiming weapons at Scourge suddenly fainted and fell to the ground. Scourge put one hand on his hip and leaned to the side to smirk at Zonic with red glinting eyes. The lieutenant general was crushing his fingers into the transmitter, actually starting to destroy it in his hand as he glared at the green menace. Shit, what was he mad about this time? Sonic furrowed his brows in concern and moved closer to try and calm his twin down. "Hey, chill out. He's an asshole, I know, but don't blow a gasket buddy-"

Zonic held up the now broken transmitter to his mouth and relayed one more order. "All soldiers, report to your assigned locations and keep your transmitters on. It's time." He then swung his arm down and threw the device into the ground. He held up his boot and stomped on it, crushing the pieces and making them scatter about. With wide fluttering eyes, Shadow and Sonic watched as Zonic marched back up the steps and into the headquarters while other cops shuffled inside beside them. They quickly glanced at each other, before hurriedly following the commander.

For some reason, Scourge didn't bother rushing in along with them. He just stared at everyone moving in, waving goodbye with a creepy smile on his face. Strange, why didn't he try to attack them? Why didn't he try to come in here and take them all on? It's not like he couldn't. Sonic frowned. He was scared of something in here. Something was stopping him from coming inside. He'd keep that in mind.

As the two hedgehogs followed Zonic while dodging rushing or pushing soldiers, they asked what was up. Sonic carefully placed his hand on his twin's shoulder, weary of his nasty attitude. "Uh, hey, are we going to your office?"

"No." Zonic retorted curtly. Geez, what was his deal? "We are reporting to the Round Room, or the meeting room." While speed walking, Zonic had actually shoved some rookie soldiers out of his way, commanding them to move it or else they'd fall behind. Rude.

"Z," Sonic said. "What's up with you this time?"

With a slow and steady sigh, Zonic tried to clean up his demeanor, but it wasn't working. "My apologies Sonic prime, but if you knew what's been going on around here lately, you'd be just as pissed off as I am right now." They finally made it to the elevator, and Zonic shoved his thumb against the upwards arrow button. He held his hands behind his back, awaiting for the elevator to return to the ground floor. He sucked his teeth. Why was it taking so long? He clearly told everyone not to use this specific elevator so that they could get to the Round Room quickly.

Shadow crossed his arms. "Well, why don't you enlighten us?"

Just as the ding of the elevator sounded, Zonic made another stressful sigh. The doors opened and he gestured for them to follow him inside. They stepped inside, and leaned against the walls. Sonic stood beside Shadow on the opposite side of the elevator, while Zonic refused to look at them. Something was really eating at him. What could be worse than finding out his lover was in a coma? Zonic placed his hand over his face, and pinched the bride of his nose.

"Sonic prime, Shadow prime, I have a series of bad news to share with you."

* * *

 **END - 26**

 **Did ya'll like the cross dressing bit? I doubt anybody can guess where I based that** **masseuse** **scene from. Also, did you know that blood facials were a real thing? They take blood outta ya and throw that plasma back in ya face. Isn't that stupid?**

 **There's a couple things I want to address after reading some of the nice recent reviews. First of all, thank you for reviewing.**

 **Second of all, I will NEVER abandon this story. I may have writer's block a lot, but I NEVER abandon my stories unless I'm currently rewriting them or am preoccupied with writing another story. My main focus right now, is this story right here. I will never abandon it or put it on hiatus unless I'm in a really difficult position, or dead.**

 **Third of all, someone was wondering how the whole 'Scourge trying to kill Sonic thing' is gonna work out if he's hopelessly in love with him. Well, I can't tell you why or else I'd spoil very vital elements of the story. But what I can tell you, is that Scourge is so pitifully insane, and is so obsessed with Sonic, that he'd be willing to _keep his corpse_. Of course that's not gonna happen, but he's really that fucking crazy. I mean, you saw his break down too, right? There's something actually very wrong with him that's making him act this way.**

 **Anyway, please favorite, review or follow. And don't forget, the big fight is coming reeeaaalll soon! Get ready to be disgusted, sad, angry or very confused and weirded out.**


	30. not another one

**Warning, this chapter depicts an abusive relationship.**

 **4 (?) - Love (?)**

* * *

 ** _Months Before Sonic's Kidnapping_**

 _That took, maybe an hour. Maybe not even an hour, that's how quick that was. Like, unusually so. Disappointingly so. Hell, she was still wet. And bleeding. What the fuck was that all about? He just up and said, 'Oh shit, I'm gonna do it!' and bam, he was done. Here she was panting in bed, sweat rolling off of her body as she thought she was going to have the time of her life tonight. But little did she know her boyfriend was going to give her the most regrettable love session she's ever been a part of. All she had on as of now was her bra, as her panties had been discarded a while ago. She was just sitting upwards, staring at the wall of the other side of the room. She couldn't believe that just happened._

 _And beside her, Scourge was on his smart phone, fully nude, acting as if nothing happened. And frankly, nothing really did happen. They did a brief amount of boring foreplay. Finally, all he did was a few very violent and painful pumps, and whoopsie do! Done. Scourge, was never that bad in bed. Never. Not even close to being that bad. In fact, he wasn't even hard anymore. Was he hard at all throughout that mess? He came but, it wasn't even that much. Fiona turned to him with disbelief on her face, and asked him the one question that's been tugging at her head for the past ten minutes._

 _"Scourge," She said. "That was fucking terrible. What the hell happened?"_

 _"I was_ terrible _with you on purpose, baby." He replied politely while scrolling through messages and personal digital notes._

 _Fiona was obviously taken aback by this, and even offended. "W-Wha..? Why?"_

 _"Because you kept moaning his name under your breath. Don't think I didn't hear you." He said as used one of his hands to dig his nail in his ear before plucking the substance off of his finger._

 _The vixen sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. This again? "Oh God, Scourge it was an accident, alright? I don't love him, you know that. I love you-"_

 _"Sweetie, an accident is a mistake. A mistake is something you make once, maybe twice, maybe three times. But eleven times in one month?" He looked away from his phone and gave her a brief glare with a flat line of a mouth. He then looked back down at the small screen and continued to sound careless and aloof. "Guess you could say I got sick of it, and gave you a bad time. Deliberately."_

 _"Scourge, don't screw with me-"_

 _"Ah ah," He cut her off while holding up his index finger, and sneered. "Already did baby~"_

 _She could feel her temper rise, and she really wasn't in the mood to argue with him right now. "Just, whatever. Where's my clothes?"_

 _He continued to smile and looked to the side. He shrugged and turned off his phone, sliding it underneath his pillow and leaning back against the headboard. "Oh I dunno, somewhere over there." He put his hands behind his head and relaxed. He wasn't going to move a muscle._

 _"Really? You're not gonna get them for me like you usually do?"_

 _"Nope. Why would I? I'm sure Sonic could have gotten them for you instead. Pretty fast, too." He sarcastically looked very curious. "Hey, you know what? You should totes call that guy! I'm sure he's available, and I'm sure he'd be into you."_

 _Oh sweet Chaos, he was doing it again. Okay, it was fucked up of her to constantly moan his name while they were doing it, she got that, but why did he have to act like such an ass every single time? She closed her eyes and tried to keep her voice down. "Scourge, I'm still soaking wet down here and I'm a little sore considering you rammed me hard as hell for a few seconds. I can't wobble my ass all the way across the room."_

 _"Oh shit bro, sounds like a personal problem." He mumbled. "I'm sure you can muster the strength to go get 'em."_

 _"Scourge, I'm fucking bleeding!" She yelled angrily._

 _The green hedgehog suddenly found the ceiling very fascinating. "Maybe your period hit ya early this month. That would explain your attitude and your sudden cravings for blue dick."_

 _"Scourge-"_

 _"Wow, you said my name like, six times by now. That's a new record."_

 _The fox threw her hands up to her head in exasperation. "Scourge! For the love of everything that's holy, just do me this one fucking thing and help me get cleaned up!" She directed her hands towards her lower abdomen. "I'm in pain, I'm dirty and bleeding because of you. Be a man, and help your girlfriend out over here!"_

 _"Oh I thought you liked rough sex?"_

 _"You call that bullshit sex? That was thirty straight minutes of complete and utter torture." She hissed. "I'm surprised I didn't end up crying thanks to that."_

 _Scourge picked at his nails and looked at them in the light from the ceiling lamp. "You know, I'm surprised you're still here talking, considering I have absolutely no God damn care in the world for what you have to say at this point in time."_

 _He was pushing it, he was really, seriously pushing it this time. Fiona gripped her fingers into the sheets, glaring holes into her boyfriend's cranium. "_ **Ogilvie** , _" She commanded his attention by using his real name. But just like that, he cut her off again and even turned around to face her. Closely._

 _"Hey," He said in a dreadfully quiet tone. "Here's an order from your majesty: How about you shut the fuck up?" That, actually hurt her a bit. That was, so mean to say. He never talked to her like that before, not even when he's pissed. He was more loud and obnoxious about it but, this time he was seriously mad. So mad that, he treated her like just another booty call. Like nothing. She said nothing back, and even scooted backwards away from him. "Fiona, we've been at each other's necks like cat and dogs ever since I turned green. And I can't help but wonder if it's because I'm not blue anymore. 'Cause you like Blue, right? No, you don't just like the color, you like him."_

 _"..." She still didn't say anything. Whenever he got like this, she was sometimes afraid to talk._

 _"You love him. You still, love him." He got up from the bed and snatched the sheets off of them both. He stood up, still staring at her coldly. "You loved that I was blue, and bad. But now that I'm my own person and actually mature, you don't like that. You don't like me anymore." He circled around the bed, nearing closer to her. "I got my intelligence back. I'm stronger, and I'm even badder than I was before. Yet, you don't like that, simply because I strayed too far off from the 'Sonic template'." He put one hand on the bed, and leaned his body forward. "You're intimidated by me, and not in a sexy way, either. You're scared of me, and you don't love me for me. You probably never did, did you?"_

 _She still refused not to open her mouth. She just adverted her eyes from his judging gaze and grimaced._

 _"It's a real fucking shame, you know?" He scowled. "Because I still love you."_ _This, caused her to cringe and flatten her ears. His voice wasn't just angry, he was hurt too. "I still love you so fucking much. I'd still kill anyone for you. I'd still die for you." He squeezed his hand into a fist. "I forgive you, over and over and over and over and fucking over, but you still want him in the end." He got off of the bed and turned his back towards her. "And I wonder, why? The fuck's so glamorous about this guy, huh? I mean, yeah, he's a hero and courageous and blah blah blah. He's a lady killer. He looks just like me, so I get why you think he's hot." He looked around and walked forward, spotting Fiona's discarded clothes on the floor. "But then, I got something else." He bent forward and went to pick them up. "After stalking him for so long, I realized how pure of heart he is no matter what. He's an angel. I hate to say it, but he really is. He's the most beautiful person I've ever seen, and I mean on the inside." He walked back over to the bed and tossed her clothes at her. "He's not just some fake ass goody-two shoes, he's an overall decent person. So I understand why you love him at all. But he's too perfect for you, and you don't like that." He pointed out. "And that's why you came to me, because I'm far from perfect. I was nothing when I first met you, so you figured I wasn't too good for you._ Right _?" He emphasized that word strongly with a raising voice._

 _With a pause in his monologue, Fiona just moved to get her clothes in order. She didn't even face him or make any action to imply that she was paying attention to him anymore._

 _"But now that I'm coming up in the world, you're not attracted to me as much. You were settling for me." He summed up their relationship with just one word, 'settled'. But that wasn't completely true. She still actually had feelings for him._

 _"No," She whispered. "That's wrong and you know it."_

 _"No, actually, I really don't babe." He scratched his fingers at his chin and began to speculate. "See, what if I gave into my bi-_ _curiosity and oh, I dunno...Fooled around with him for a bit, hypothetically? Or how about this, what if every time we made love in your bed, I'd scream his name every time I came inside of you?" Seeing her head sink lower with a solemn expression didn't make him stop, it only encouraged him to keep talking. "Or wait! What if we were both like, really in the moment, all lovey dovey and emotional in our little session, and I just start talking about him." He began to mock her, making her feel even worse. "Kinda like this, 'Oh, oh fuck Blue, I love you so much. Oh Sonic, you feel so good~'" He clapped his hands together once and walked to stand right in front of her beside the bed. "My name, is_ not, fucking Sonic! _" He screamed. "You said my real name, but I don't go by that either sweetheart!" As he hollered at her, she flinched with each word. "My name is Scourge, and I advise you to fucking remember it, Fiona! No man, should ever hear his woman scream another man's name out of her fucking face-hole! Got that!?"_

 _"..."_

 _"I asked you a God damn question, girl." He snarled. "Do you understand me? If I hear you say his name one more time, I will fucking kill you_ myself _." He held out his hand, and reached forward to grip her hair and yank her head back. She yelped in pain, grabbing at his wrist to try and make him stop. "Next time, I'll do more than make you bleed down there. And trust me, you don't want that, Fiona. I don't want to hurt you, but I will end you if you hurt me like this again." He shook his head slowly. "I've already been fucked up so many times by so many people, I'll be damned if I let you do it too. I'm not that stupid little boy anymore, Fi. I've grown up, and I'm tired of your shit. If you don't want me, then leave me!"_

 _"I-I," She stuttered, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I-I do love you, I do want you. I understand, I promise."_

 _"You know how crazy I am, and you know what I can do to you." He murmured to her. "I can do so many horrible things to you, so many horrible things, Fiona." He gripped her hair even tighter, threatening to rip it out, strand by strand. "I'm a monster, and I'm a shit-person. You know you can't hurt me without consequences."_

 _She didn't say anything back, she just clenched her eyes shut as she tried desperately to pull his hand away from her. She sniffed and quivered, her emotions getting the best of her and weakening her body. Soon, she let go, and just allowed him to grip her. Seeing how fearful and traumatized she was, Scourge realized that he was actually physically harming her. Chaos, why was he doing this? He let go of her and scratched the back of his head. That wasn't even him talking, that was his past self coming out._

 _He sighed. "I know an apology isn't going to fix what I just did or said to you," He didn't look at her. "But I'm sorry." He crossed his arms and sat down on the bed beside her. "Go in the bathroom and clean up. You should see yourself out." He instructed. "I never, touched you like that before, or talked to you like that before. I don't want that to happen again." He stared out the window, noticing the sun still wasn't out yet. It'd probably never come out in this world. "Don't come back here for a while. I need to sort myself out to make sure I don't hurt you like that again. That could have gone a lot worse."_

 _"..."_

 _For a second there, he himself looked guilty, and sad. But only then. He just continued to look emotionless, and broken. "Get out of my room, Fiona. Leave." He closed his eyes. "_ Please _, leave."_

 _Without a word, she grabbed her things, and stumbled out of bed. She then wobbled away from him, and managed to get out of the room. She left him there to head into the bathroom. After hearing some water, and the shower turn on, he heard the sounds of shoes speeding down the hall. He heard some sobs as well._

 _She was gone._

 _He started to chuckle._

 _Wow, there really was something wrong with him._

 _Something seriously, awfully wrong._

* * *

 **END - ?**

 **"Love."**

 **There is no such thing as happiness, here. Not for him.**

 **And definitely, not for her.**

 **Truly a disturbing end for both parties involved.**

 **(Okay, so this one doesn't have any serious correlation with the main plot, but I did want to post this as something that was still a part of the story. That's why I didn't just post a new story file and make this a one-shot. This is just a flashback of Fiona's, detailing how she and Scourge argued about her calling out Sonic's name during intimacy. With all of these weird question mark chapters, I want you to really understand how broken Scourge really is as a person, and how negatively he effected the very few number of people in his personal life. But throughout this story, I also want you guys to understand that he isn't just a monster. He is someone who was created into a monster through emotional, mental and physical pain and torment. In this case, Fiona was a small percentage of that, which is what caused him to snap. This is the type of person Sonic would be dealing with, if Scourge ever gets his hands on him. _Remember that._ )**


	31. Knocking On Your Door

**27 - Knocking On Your Door**

* * *

Fingers waltzed and gracefully struck against the small but thick keyboard. His ingenious brain was working to the bone, constantly going over codes, equations and binary. It was functioning several miles a second, thinking of something new every so often in only minutes. Tails was now typing on a keyboard that was installed inside of the anti-Omega's back. Above this, a screen that was similar to a laptop was installed as well. Tails couldn't tell what kind of model the computer was, but it was obviously dated. Not by that many years, but definitely something he wouldn't normally use.

The anti-Omega droid was turned around, it's back towards Tails as he worked on it. It was still active, but it was on standby. Basically waiting for Tails to be done with his hacking process. It's eyes moved from side to side occasionally, scanning the room. Meanwhile, the kitsune was making great progress. He was starting to figure out how to get rid of this weird red code. It was strange because, this was coding he's never seen before. Something he's never even studied before. However, he was starting to understand it's language and figure out how it works. This red code was blocking all of the world's networks, forcing the entire population of the planet to go without wi-fi, or in worse cases, without electricity.

It's been days now, a week without power. Who knew what kind of travesties occurred while the world went dark? But no more, because Tails was about to find the answer. Yes, all he had to do was figure out this last set of coding, and he could translate it all. His hands were sore, and he was positive he was developing carpal tunnel. Still, he didn't plan on giving up because of a little pain. He was going to make his big brother proud.

There was just, one more thing he wanted to do first...

He took his hands off the keyboard with a self assured smile, and walked from behind the giant robot. It then asked what Tails was doing. "You are no longer working on the network. Have you lost hope?" It asked.

"No," Tails simply replied. "I'm just taking a tiny break. My hands are pretty cramped here. You just wait right there, I'll be back in a few minutes." As the fox began to turn to walk away, the machine warned him.

"Please remember my previous advice," It reminded him. "Do not try and investigate something that may lead to your own downfall."

That threat again, huh? Tails has had just about enough of this jerk telling him what and what not to do. He was almost thirteen, and he was living on his own like an adult. If it wasn't for him, everyone in this room would be dead, so how dare they threaten him like that? On more than one occasion? He scowled, but didn't turn back. "If you want to hurt me or my friends, go ahead. Just know that when Sonic and Shadow get back, they're not gonna take too kindly to that, and they _will_ find you." He retorted confidently. "I don't know who you are, or what your game is, but you're not gonna keep threatening me like I'm some five year old. I'm not scared anymore. I'm _done_ being scared. So your threats aren't going to work." Tails swished his namesakes as he continued to walk away from the now silent robot. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my friends. Something I'm sure you wouldn't understand."

Knuckles and Rouge were standing by each other against the entrance of the door. They were talking amongst themselves in quiet tones, making worried expressions. Seeing the little fox walk upon them, they stopped in the middle of their conversation and gave him their attention. Tails was basically their leader at this point, they had to pay respects.

"Hey guys, can you do me a favor and answer some questions for me? I got some suspicions I wanna confirm."

Knuckles nodded with a shrug. "Sure squirt, ask away."

"Alright," Tails briefly looked over his shoulder to see if that damn droid was watching them. It just continued to stand there and idled. "Rouge," He glanced at the ivory bat. "Is it possible to pilot an Omega robot?"

Her eye lids rose. "Pilot? You mean actually controlling it from the inside?" She frowned and put a hand to her chin. "Well, I know you couldn't do that with the original Omega. The most you could do was open him up to power him with something but," She darted her eyes to the side where their robot ally stood. "I've never seen him open up like that one did with that Fiona girl. I'll tell you this, though. The person who made this one obviously had different schematics for it's model."

Tails lowered his eyes. Just as he thought. He then looked at the echidna. "Knuckles, can you sense if that thing is powered by chaos power, or anything similar?"

The red mobian narrowed his eyes and made a "Hmm," sound under his breath. He then closed his eyes and concentrated. He may not have been a user like Shadow or Sonic, but he understood chaos energy almost just as much as they did. "...Yeah, I feel something alright." He continued to keep his eyes shut, focusing carefully. "It's not chaos energy, though. After all, Sonic took the chaos emeralds with him when he warped out of here. And it can't be M.E. or else the island would be sinking in the oceans by now. No," His frown tightened. "It's not chaos energy at all, but it is something very similar. That thing said it was from anti-Mobius, right? I'm not that familiar with anarchy beryl, but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm sensing." He slowly revealed his purple irises. "But, it doesn't feel like a power source, if you get what I mean. It doesn't feel like whatever that energy is, is powering a robot. It feels, alive. Like it's from an actual _living_ person."

"..." The kitsune brought his hand up to his mouth to cover it while looking away. Was that so? Interesting. "...Thanks you guys, that was very helpful. I'm gonna go back to work."

Rouge could see the expression on his face. He just figured something out. Smart kid, Sonic would be proud. "Alright honey, just be careful around that thing. I feel like it's watching you."

"Can do, Rouge." The vulpine nodded and returned to the droid. He got behind it's back and continued to study this strange code. Oh? That was odd. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked the robot. Something else was popping up on the screen here.

The anti-Omega made some static sounds. "You have received a request for a video call."

"W-What? But how? I thought nobody had any means of communication."

"You are using the universal wi-fi, which is ultimately connected from No Zone Corp in No Zone. You are using it without their permission, and this message is also from No Zone Corp. I presume they are contacting you as a consequence."

"Hey," Tails started to smile. "Maybe they can help us! Accept the request, hurry!"

"Request accepted. Connecting to No Zone Corp. Please wait a few moments..."

* * *

"I know I said we were going to the meeting room but, there is something you need to see. I wasn't going to show you at first, but...I cannot keep it way from you."

The commander of No Zone Corp continued to strut his way towards his office with the two hedgehogs following behind him. No one was on this floor, it was absolutely empty. Everyone was either downstairs preparing, or down in No Zone Prison to make sure the prisoners were secured.

As they walked, Zonic gave them some tragic news. "During the days of the festival, I was not present. Not just because of work, but because of a series of unfortunate and strange events." Finally, they came upon their destination. Zonic then proceeded to pick through the pocket of his military top to grab his keys. "A coupe days ago," He heaved a heavy sigh. "Four of my missing soldiers that were with officer Zhadow in anti-Mobius, returned to me. However, they were not in their right mind. Apparently, Scourge managed to get to them, and mind controlled them." He took his keys out of his pocket and turned to the door. "My professional shrink, Counselor Zouge, was able to break them out of his spell. But then," He closed his eyes and lightly punched his fist into the door while looking down. It took him a minute before speaking again. "I...They," He stumbled in his words. "They refused to seek help. They purposefully activated some kind of self destructing sequence in their helmets. They put them on, the helmets exploded, and they killed themselves."

Both Sonic and Shadow's irises dilated drastically. Sonic rose his hand up to his mouth in shock, his lips slightly gaping. Shadow was as speechless as his partner, his eyes slowly looking away with dejection. The hero had more disbelief than sorrow, as he just couldn't believe anyone who worked in this kind of facility would dare to do such a thing. Everyone who worked here, everyone who lived here, were all strong people. Both in body, and mind. To hear that not one, but four people committed suicide, was more than just a tragedy. That was Zonic's men, that was his lover's team mates. At least Zhadow was somewhat alive, but they were gone for good now. And in such a gruesome way- _Oh God_...Their heads exploding...He forced himself to hold down his lunch. "Zonic," Sonic whispered. "I...I'm so sorry."

What else could he say?

It was like Zonic didn't even notice he apologized for his loss. He just continued to frown angrily while opening his eyes back at the knob. He shoved his key in and twisted it around to unlock it. He gripped the handle and tossed the door open. "In." He commanded. The two didn't waste any time and walked in with Zonic closing and locking the door back. "And now, more bad news. No, horrible news." He corrected himself. He traveled over to the Room of Realities, and pushed the door open. It was unusually unlocked. He then whipped his nightstick from his belt and pointed towards the Mobius prime monitors inside of the room. Sonic and Shadow moved around Zonic to get closer to the screens.

What they saw, made the very oxygen in their lungs vanish into nothing.

Their hearts had stopped.

Red. Scarlet.

Those were the only colors they could see. Wait, no there was more. Crimson fires, black soot, grey ashes...Destroyed buildings, crumbling cities, torn up streets. Broken traffic lights, toppled and naked cars. There was no sun, there was only a blood moon. Red mist filled the entire globe. Zonic then moved forward and tapped his nightstick on the channel buttons on the monitor. It didn't matter what channel he switched to, it was all the same. A barren, destroyed wasteland. Except, with every channel switch, the scenery only got worse. There were dead bodies. There were corpses everywhere. Their people, all of those innocent people. Men, women, children, elderly...All dead.

While Shadow tried to stop himself from screaming in rage, he felt weight fall against his side. He looked beside him and saw that Sonic was passing out. With a curse, he reached out and grabbed him by the arms. He tried shaking him to force him to wake up back up, but it wasn't working. Sonic wasn't just fainting, he was becoming delirious. Zonic glanced over, but then turned away with a scowl. He didn't want to show them this, he really didn't, but what kind of person would he be if he didn't show them the truth?

Sonic was hyperventilating. Sonic never, _ever,_ reacted to anything like this before. He was gasping and wheezing as if someone was strangling him. This was worse than when Zonic had his mental break down. He at least had some state of mind left, but Sonic, it was as if his mind was gone. He was rapidly shaking in Shadow's hold, and he was foaming at the mouth. His fur was growing darker, and his green irises were disappearing. Zonic watched with worry, concerned that he might have to step in. _No, no no!_ Shadow thought.

No, he refused to let this happen again!

With a growl, he slammed a now very Dark Sonic against the wall, which was just a wall of numerous TV screens. He thought he may have cracked one of them, but this was necessary. Sonic's eyes were gone, and were now completely white. He was starting to shove against Shadow now, hissing under his breath in a very heinous tone, to let him go. "Let me go...Let me go **this instant, I said let me go...** " His voice was deep, demonic. " _Get off of me..!_ **GET OFF!** " He screeched, his voice becoming strange.

Shadow wouldn't have it. He continued to grip his hands into his arms, shoving him further. He ignored the power surge coming from his partner, and the navy blue aura drifting into the air. "Commander," The ultimate life form roughly addressed the third hedgehog in the room, but he didn't take his eyes off of Sonic. "Please leave for about ten minutes. I promise you, I will have Sonic under control."

"Shadow prime, I implore you to-"

"-Just trust me!"

Zonic bit his lip and turned away while rushing out of the room without a word.

Now that they were alone, Shadow held up his hand and wrapped his fingers around Sonic's throat. Not enough to choke him, but definitely harsh enough to keep him still. He then rose his other hand, green energy engulfing his palm. With a bright light, red wire-like material made of chaos energy appeared. With movements quicker than Sonic's eyes could follow, he was wrapped in the red strings. He couldn't move, but he violently thrashed around. He even opened his mouth to yell, but something that took the form of **dark flames** came out instead. _Okay_ , that was new. Apparently Sonic could breathe dark blue looking fire in this form. Thankfully, Shadow had backed away before it could nail him. This didn't discourage him, however.

"Sonic," Shadow called out to him loudly. "Sonic!" He cried even louder. It was useless, he just couldn't hear him. At least not mentally. He was too caught up in his own wrath to notice him. He just wanted to kill, to hurt someone. But he couldn't let that happen, he had to do something! Damn, this was going to be really corny, but it was the only thing he could think of. He placed one of his hands back near Sonic's muzzle, but not to grab him by the throat again. To caress the side of his face. The thrashing had ceased from the gesture, now glaring at Shadow with a white void for eyeballs. Yes, he finally noticed him. He was listening. "It's me." He said in a softer tone. "I'm here."

 _I'm here._

"Even if everything gets destroyed, it doesn't matter. I'm here, and we'll fix it."

Dark Sonic was still glowering at him, and his aura didn't fade away.

"We'll fix it. You'll fix it. You always do." He tried to dig through his brain to think of anything that might snap him out of it. "You fought this form's influence off before, and I need you to do it again. Not just me, and not just Zonic. Those soldiers, your friends, your loved ones. Tails," He saw something spark in Sonic when he mentioned him. "We all need you. You can't break like this." He then placed his other hand behind Sonic, gripping the back of his head through his now risen quills. " _I love you_ , remember when I finally said that to you last night?" He murmured. "Remember when I had you, when I took you with everything I had to offer?" He leaned his face closer, their noses brushing against each other. He gently rubbed his hand down against his cheek. "When I utterly destroyed you, when I built you back up again, in that one single moment?" He shook his head. "I'm the only one who's allowed to have you. This thing that you turned into, I won't let it have you. And I won't let Scourge steal you away either. _You're mine_ , do you understand?"

Slowly, dark green eyes began to face back into the white eyes.

"Please, fight it off," He lowered his eyes. "And come back to me." He pressed his mouth on Sonic's, feeling his still lightly bruised lips from their rough lovemaking. Their lips consummated, but it wasn't as perfect as it should have been. The monster controlling Sonic's anger, it was screwing up their chemistry. The kiss was heated, but he could still feel him trying to refuse. With a growl, Shadow stuck out his tongue and seized Dark Sonic's neck once again. This **thing** liked that roughness. It was the only way to get through to it, fight fire with fire. He used his mouth more aggressively, even biting at his lower lip to bruise it even further. He could feel Sonic shift against him, and he was becoming warm. His cheeks grew a dark red, and his eyes tried looking away. He was moaning, but was trying to keep them silent under his breath. "You bastard," Shadow hissed as he took a breather. "Let him go," He demanded. "Give him back!" He darted his blazing ruby eyes down at his throat, and dived for it.

His tongue slithered against his skin.

" _Aah..!_ " Sonic gasped and clenched his eyes closed. His green eyes became brighter, the aura was dispersing from view. His upper torso had chills sent up his spine. "S-Shadow," That was his voice. He was coming back to him. "Please," He shivered. He was trying to fight it, but he needed help. That's why he was talking so submissive like this. Shadow wasted no time to repeat his actions, only this time, he sucked against his flesh. Sonic rolled his eyes back and his muscles became weak. Shadow's power was penetrating his own, it was cutting this negative influence out of him. It was nearly all gone. "I-It's going away..." His voice became more quiet, more calm.

His fur became more blue, and his quills settled down. His lime green eyes were now normal, and he was himself again. Shadow lifted his mouth off of his body, and softly sighed at the sight of his lover finally relaxing. "Thank goodness." He mumbled in relief. Sonic, who was now beet red, was out of breath. Probably from both his sweet spot being sucked at, and his Dark form attempting to take over him. The chaos wires snapped, and disappeared. There was no need for them anymore.

"Thank you." The hero tried to smile, but he couldn't even fake one. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Save it." Shadow pressed a peck on his mouth. "You're back, that's all that matters."

"I-I, I had it under control, I don't know what happened. I just," He looked behind Shadow with a deep grimace. "..." He didn't say anything else. He didn't have to.

"Believe me," Shadow began to say. "I am very close to setting this entire world on fire after seeing that. Trust me when I say, I am one step away from breaking _myself_." He took his hand away from his neck and let it rub down his arm. "But you can't, Sonic. I'm not losing you too."

"You'll never lose me. I'll never leave you."

"Hn," The red striped hedgehog nearly smiled, but he found it too difficult as of now. "I wouldn't let you, anyway."

Some heavy, but hesitant footsteps made them look towards the entrance of the room. Shadow let go of Sonic, but not before giving him a longing and trusting gaze. Sonic's chest became hot, and he stepped away from the wall while holding his hand towards his heart. They both turned their heads at the two Mobius prime monitors, and clenched their teeth.

Zonic slowly stepped in, eyeing Sonic immediately. Seeing his now blue fur and green eyes, he exhaled while dragging his hand down his face. Thank Chaos. "You're okay. You're both okay." It's probably been over ten minutes, but he looked like he was in a hurry to get here. Not just because of the wait time, but because of something else. "Both of you, listen to me." He said in a pleading voice. The two lovers turned to look from behind, and saw Zonic walk towards them. He had another transmitter in his hand. He wasn't smiling, but he was giving them an expression that seemed almost happy. "I have good news, this time." He then stepped in front of the Mobius prime screens, and began pressing his fingers on the channel buttons again. "I just got word from Colonel Zespio, someone connected to our universal wi-fi without permission. Whenever this happens, No Zone Corp's security system is contacted instantaneously. When we traced the connection back to it's origin," He looked into his twin's saddened eyes. "We found out that it was from Mobius prime. Your home."

Sonic made a sound that may have been a gasp, but he was so riled up that it barely came out. Shadow grasped his shoulder, and watched the commander press the channel button once again. It landed on GUN HQ. It was a wreck, just like everywhere else. Shadow unfortunately saw some dead humans in front of the building, with blood smeared on the doors. Then, Zonic pressed it one last time. The screen then showed live footage of the GUN commander's personal office. It was a mess as well but, that's not what they were concerned about.

Their friends were in there.

 _They were alive._

" _Tails..!_ " Sonic exclaimed, running to the monitors and pressing his hands on the screens. He nearly fell to his knees, his eyes almost became watery, but he forced away any emotional tears. Shadow joined his side, seeing Rouge sitting in front of the entrance of the door along with the echidna. Amy was standing in front of someone he didn't recognize, and the rabbit girl and her mother was sitting in the corner of the room. He blew out a huge puff of air, chuckling at how worried they were. On the second monitor, it was shown from Tails' point of view. His face was very close to the screen, but it looked like he was on a laptop of some kind. Zonic smiled to himself, and pressed the audio controls to increase the volume.

"We're connected. They should be able to hear us now."

They heard some kind of robotic voice from the other end telling Tails that he _was getting a connection._

 _"Request accepted. Connecting to No Zone Corp. Please wait a few moments..."_

Zonic cleared his throat and placed his hands behind his back professionally. "Hello, Miles prime. Can you hear me?"

 _"W-Woah..! Sonic, it's really you!"_ The boy cheered with wide eyes and a big smile. _"I can't believe-"_

"Oh no, I'm not Sonic prime. Actually," Zonic stepped aside, and allowed Sonic to get a little closer.

The hero covered his mouth, his eyes lowering as he felt himself nearly crying. He sucked it in, and uncovered his face to smile at his little brother. "Tails, it's me, buddy."

 _"S-Sonic,"_ Tails stuttered. _"You're okay! Thank Chaos..."_ He looked away from the screen and started to yell at the others in the room. _"Guys! Come over here, I got contact with Sonic and Shadow!"_

They automatically heard several footsteps charging towards the fox. Amy was the first one to shove over, before Rouge came into view. Well, more like her breasts came into view. All the three hedgehogs saw was her cleavage, and some uncomfortable grunts and shouting. Then they saw a flash of red, and a jaggy tail. They saw some long bunny ears in the background, and some sounds of confusion. Finally, they managed to settle themselves down in front of the laptop, so they could see all of their faces. Tails was in front, Amy was on his right and Rouge was on his left. Knuckles was behind them, and Vanilla, who was carrying an unconscious Cream, was beside him. They all looked so relieved, and happy.

Sonic just started to laugh. He was so grateful that they were okay, he was so overjoyed. He nearly lost his mind, but they were all fine. Thank God, _thank God..._

 _"You both are...Oh goodness."_ They heard Vanilla say.

Rouge rubbed the bottom of her palm against her eyes, her make up beginning to run down her face. She sniffed with a smirk and crossed her arms. _"Shame on you two. Worrying us like that,"_ She tried to sound annoyed, but her tone was far too ecstatic to be angry.

Knuckles pushed his fists together, and nodded with a confident expression. He smiled warmly, knowing full well that they were okay all along. _"I knew you two were alive. I never doubted it!"_

Amy balled and wailed, clenching her hands together against her chest while sobbing uncontrollably. _"Y-Y-You're both, you're really-"_ She sniffled. _"I-I'm so happy!"_

Tails was crying as well, but not as profusely as Amy. They were small, gentle tears. The kitsune just grinned, giving his older brother a thumbs up. _"We're all here. And we're all waiting for you!"_

Zonic rolled up his sleeve and checked his wrist watch, property of No Zone Corp. "I can buy you a little more time before the meeting." He announced. Sonic nearly cursed, he forgot they had a war to attend to. "Plus, I need to give Miles prime some important information." He talked very cautiously, as he didn't want them to think this call was unimportant. However, they didn't have much time to do this. Zonic needed to give Tails info, and they had to hurry before Scourge attacked.

 _"Hey,"_ They heard the vulpine say with a confused expression. _"Who's that? And why does he looks like Sonic? That can't be Scourge."_

Rouge frowned a little. _"Isn't that the No Zone counterpart anti-Omega was talking about?"_

Shadow's ears twitched. Anti-Omega? What was she talking about? Zonic softly excused himself to the two hedgehogs as he moved in front of them. "I am indeed the No Zone counterpart to Sonic prime. Nice to meet all of you. I am sorry I could not meet any of you on better circumstances, but I am afraid this call cannot last for long." He bowed his head low. "Forgive me, but we're in a hurry here-"

 _"Wow~"_ Amy swooned. _"He's pretty dreamy, and so professional too!"_

Knuckles put a fist under his chin. _"Hey yeah, he's a lot more mature than Sonic."_

The hero made a lopsided grin, and gave Knuckles a playful glare while folding his arms. "I can hear you, ya know." Quickly, his smile disappeared. They needed to wrap this up. "Tails," He called his little sibling, who attentively stared back. "Scourge is here, and he's about to start a war. We're trying to get ready right now, and we're gonna fight."

The group on the other side of the TVs gave each other certain looks. Tails didn't look too happy about that. _"A war? Darn, I don't think there's anything we can do to help you."_

"There is one thing," Zonic cut in. "Miles prime, I am aware that you are attempting to take down Scourge's control in your world." He saw the shocked expression on the preteen's face, and continued. "There's no time to explain. You cannot take down the network just yet. If you do, it will not effect him. However, I have a plan. I never anticipated that you'd be able to contact us, so it's a bit rushed, but no matter. We have to time this right during battle. When I give the word, I want you to take it down, but only until then. Understand?"

 _"Uh, yes."_ The boy nodded. _"But, how will I know? It's not like you can call me back while fighting."_

"I have a fix for that. Do not worry. I will make it so that you will be able to watch and see the battle through our eyes, so you'll know when I give the signal."

Both Shadow and Sonic blinked. "Huh?"

 _"Huh?"_ Tails became puzzled.

Zonic saluted the fox respectfully. "We will be in contact once again in due time, but for now we need to depart. Godspeed, Miles prime. And to the rest of you." He then stepped away, and allowed Sonic and Shadow to give their goodbyes. Sonic scratched his head. What did he mean by that? He just shook his head and smiled at his friends.

"We're gonna come back home soon. All we gotta do is finish this once and for all."

Shadow looked at Rouge particularly and faintly smiled himself. "We will not return until the state of Mobius is restored, and until that menace gets what's coming to him. We won't fail."

The white bat gave him a wink and tilted her head towards Sonic. Ah, he knew what that meant. He secretly winked back with a smirk, which in turn caused her jaw to drop. She looked as if she was asking, 'For real..!?' Shadow nodded once, and this made the woman internally squeal. She tried to keep her expressions to a minimum so no one would notice, but he could tell she was very happy for them. Amy balled up her hands, puffing smoke out of her nose with determination. _"We're rooting for you! Kick his butt!"_

Knuckles smirked and punched one of his namesakes into his hand. _"Kick his freakin' ass! No holding back!"_

Vanilla looked beyond the levels of just 'worried', but she wished them luck nevertheless. _"Please be careful! Fight with everything you have."_

 _"Leave nothing left of him when you're done, sweetie. Oh, and give him a good whack for me. Right in his skull."_ Rouge nudged Amy a bit when she said that.

Tails frowned, but he wasn't discouraged, that's just how confident he was. He had more than just hope, he had pride in his big brother. _"You're gonna do this. You won't lose, I know you won't. Like Rouge said,"_ His expression became dark. _"Beat him, and end this for good."_ His grin returned, and gave both hedgehogs a peace sign. _"We'll be okay. Just focus on the fight, and win no matter what!"_ He held up his hand, and pushed his fist against the screen. Sonic did the same, touching his knuckles against Tails', almost as if he was actually there.

"Yeah," Sonic said. "We won't lose, I can definitely promise all of you that." Their fist bump ended, and they solemnly, but assuredly shared a look of pride and ambition. "Tails, I'm so proud of you." He was so proud to call him his little brother. He really was a chip off the old block. "Love you, lil' bro. We're gonna do this, and we're gonna come home."

Tails rubbed his nose. _"Love you too, buddy."_ He nodded and started to wave his hand. _"Goodbye-"_

Shadow interrupted him. "No, Tails." He remembered that Maria told him, loved ones should never tell each other 'goodbye'. "See you later." He corrected him.

Surprised by Shadow's words, the fox's smile only grew bigger. _"Right. See you later."_ Everyone either waved, or gave a thumbs up. They all were cheering for them, and they were all confident that they would do this. Their despair, their worries and guilt, it was all going away. They were the ray of hope they needed. They were the light they were looking for in this disgusting red abyss of darkness. Their morale shot through the stars, and traveled light years in the galaxy above. They couldn't give up, not now. They had too much to live for. They could _fix_ this, they could do something. The world wasn't done for just yet.

Sonic turned to Shadow, who shared a glance with him. They knew now what they had to do. Zonic waved his hand towards the entrance, gesturing that they needed to leave. With a brighter sense of aspiration and anticipation, they all walked out of the Room of Realities.

Together, side by side.

* * *

Warden Zobotnik really was a fat ass tub of lard.

This meting room was like a round table, while the warden sat behind a podium in the center of the room. Zonic was there, along with Zector, Zespio, a few other important looking soldiers of high ranks, and other normal soldiers with lower ranks surrounding the room. The big heads stood at the table, while everyone else stood by. They didn't sit down yet, though. Shadow and Sonic were near Zonic's seat, but they noticed there was one next to him, that was empty. They sadly assumed officer Zhadow was supposed to sit there. Out of respect, they didn't touch the sturdy, blue cushioned chair.

A large and wide projection was shown behind the warden a little above his head. This is where a map of the capital and the main city of No Zone was shown, which was all located here. He folded his hands on top of the podium, where some scattered papers laid. He then adjusted his glasses and gave an order. "Attention!" He barked. Just then, everyone saluted all at once. Sonic and Shadow abruptly felt the need to do the same. The warden, after eyeing his men, finally said, "At ease." And everyone put down their hands and moved to sit down. "My fellow soldiers," He began in a prude tone. "The time of war is nigh. As you all know, there is a mad man, who was previously one of our own dear prisoners, running amok in our beloved city. Our lieutenant general has been searching for this maniac for months, and now he finally decides to show his face after destroying our city and our prison not once, not twice, but _three_ times in a row."

Zonic didn't seem to like the fact that he mentioned him. His face became very resentful once hd did. He really must have hated him, more than Sonic hated Eggman.

"We've all known for a long time that he'd return, and we've been preparing for this. This is where all your years of training measures up to. After receiving some crucial information, we also know that this menace has an army, and power beyond our understanding. Unfortunately, this power has extorted the very souls of some of our most powerful and loyal officers, even forcing some of them to take their own lives." To this, some of the officers in the room either looked down and closed their eyes for a moment of silence, or looked away shamefully. "After all the things this evil tyrant has thrown at us, we finally found a way to combat everything he has up his sleeve." He held up his finger. "I've been hard at work at fixing my lieutenant general's reality monitors and universal warp rings. But I had to stop and move onto working on something else, something vital to our victory against the interloper who dared to trespass into our home again." He glanced to the side towards the projection, that switched to another image. It was something similar to concept art, or schematics of a helmet. "I have engineered new helmets for all of you. They will shield you from the mysterious power of the anti-Sonic's. Do not take these off when in battle, or you will seal your own fate instantly. And as for our visitors," He turned in Zonic's direction, where Shadow and Sonic stood. "I have ear pieces for you that work exactly the same way."

They shared a gaze that seemed more or less impressed. They were surprised he even cared about them, but then they figured Zonic probably chastised him about their significance here earlier.

"You all have new modified uniforms, and weapons that can do more than just offend or defend. Now be mindful of your morale, because we are now fighting for anyone who's lost their mind and their life to the anti-Sonic. We are avenging them, and we are avenging our fallen soldiers. We will not fail. We didn't fall to Nega, and we surely won't lose to the likes of him!" He slammed his fist against the surface. "This is _my_ city, this is _my_ facility! I'll be damned if I allow any brat to be the downfall of me! I beseech you to share this mindset, should you doubt yourself in battle. This war will never be over until I have him _executed for the last time_ , with his head on a stake in my office!" He hollered, standing up from his seat. The image of the projection changed back to the map from before. "I predict he and his pitiful army will appear right at the nose of Zero Bridge, less than twenty minutes away from Zenon Park. We will travel to Zedgewood, which is directly west of the bridge. It is also home to the Zedgewood Greenfield, where there's plenty of room to fight without risking collateral damage. Finally, there is where we go to war." He stepped from behind the podium and stood in front of the round table. "I want you to capture him, and I want him alive. As for his army, leave no one left. Rip them apart. We normally don't take lives in combat, but this isn't Nega, this is a deviant. So I will say this one more time," He placed his hands on the table. "If need be, don't hesitate. This is life or death! This is a real war! Am I clear?"

All officers stood up from their seats and saluted with a loud, "Sir!"

"You all know your formation from last time, right? Nothing's changed, and you all know what to do! Now get out there and-" He stopped. He heard something rather annoying bugging his ear drum. Was, was that whispering? During one of his meetings? He whipped his head towards his lieutenant general, only to see his prime twin leaning over to murmur something in his blue ear. The others in the room did the same, and looked in their direction. Zonic seemed rather intrigued in whatever he was saying to him, while Shadow prime seemed confused as to what they were whispering about.

Zonic then nodded and Sonic prime stepped away while quietly apologizing to everyone with a sheepish grin on his face. Their commander then explained what that was. "Ah, please excuse us sir. Sonic prime gave me a rather, interesting proposal for the war."

"And this, 'proposal' of yours couldn't wait until after I was finished Lieutenant General?" The warden scowled. As a retort, Zonic gave him a cold glare and crossed his arms.

"No. No it couldn't have. My dearest apologies for interrupting your 'hand written speech', that you totally didn't plagiarize from my personal email-"

Warden Zobotnik growled. "And enough out of you!" The tension in the room became so thick, it was getting a little difficult to breathe in here. Even the other high ranking offers adjusted their collars while darting their eyes away. Those two always bickered when there was a meeting or an important court session at hand.

Zonic continued to glare at him for another minute before speaking again. He then gave his attention to his fellow men and women in uniform. "As your lieutenant general, I will guide you to the path of victory. This is my first time leading a war, as this is my first year of being the lieutenant general. You are all very loyal, and were very accepting when I was rewarded with such a status. For that, I thank you. I will not fail you, and I won't let them die in vain. As the warden said, we will avenge them, and we will achieve victory once again. There is no guarantee, but let us see to it that we will lose not one of our ranks." He got up out of his seat and walked towards the podium, despite his general who was also his boss, giving him a very stinky eye. Suddenly, the slide changed to something very different.

It was a picture of Scourge.

...No, it was a picture of the anti-Sonic, before he was green.

It was so, strange to see him like this. Not the fact that he was blue, but because he didn't have all that stupid leather on. He was wearing normal casual clothing, without those stupid red glasses. He looked tired, or uncaring when this picture was taken. He didn't look like he was a prisoner here, he looked like someone close to him took this. He was looking somewhere else, with a book in his hand. He was smiling a little, with his eyes lowered and dark bags under them. But, Chaos, he looked so _normal_. Was this the picture Sonic saw right after Shadow blew up that bed and breakfast house? "This is Scourge, before mutation. As you all know from the prisoner IQ tests and evaluations, this man is extremely intelligent. He hit a score of 250 in his IQ tests, but they only increased after every month he spent here. Though his insanity obscures his intellect, he was still an outstanding scholar and a notorious genius. Do not be fooled by his appearance or the way he presents himself. This is one person you do not want to underestimate. When you fight, hold nothing back. Do I make myself clear?"

The No Zone soldiers gave a loud cry of honor and approval, throwing up their fists with confidence and pride. They stomped their feet and saluted, before placing their hands on their hearts and bowing low for their commander. Zonic almost smiled at this with flattery, while the warden just scoffed bitterly and moved to walk back around the podium.

"Very good. Then it's settled," Zonic announced. "This meeting is over, you are all dismissed. Go to your designated areas and await your orders. Be prepared to set off for war-" The commander halted his words, as he suddenly felt a bad feeling hit his gut. He then took a few steps back while yelling for his general to move. "Warden Zobotnik, move-!" He tried to say, but it was too late.

The wall behind the warden crumbled, and a large hole was printed. The instant impact caused the warden to lose his balance and fall over onto the floor and the rubble. Smoke and dust filled the room, and the soldiers instantly held up their guns. Out of the hole in the wall, the silhouette of their favorite criminal surfaced. He stepped over the warden's now unconscious body, brushing bits and pieces of dust and rocks off of his shoulders. He sneered, his hands in his jacket pockets while leaning back. He looked back and forth at the party of officers, and gave a wink at Sonic. Shadow was steaming, and he even tried to lunge forward, until Sonic grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. No, not here. They couldn't fight him here. Zonic's face was the darkest, and angriest they've ever seen yet. He was more livid than Shadow was, if that were even possible.

Scourge blew out some air and huffed in a grunt. He took his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms with a blush on his face. "Hmph! Show 'em my baby pictures why don't ya!?" He kicked the dirt off the floor with a pout. He then looked towards the wall were the projector showed his old picture, and sucked his teeth. "Like, eeww! this is a suuuper old one! I'm like, totes uggo in this one. Ugh..." He spawned something similar to a chaos spear in his hand, filled with dark energy, and tossed it upwards at the machine that produced the projection. It stabbed right through it, black smoke shooting out and soon exploding with the pieces falling down. He jumped up, and landed on the round table, crossing his legs like a pretzel. "Well, since you all wanna talk about me, I'll give ya a little trivia on yours truly." He pointed to his glasses. "These glasses? They ain't just sick shades, they got medicine in 'em. Well the other pair does, anyway. I'm actually wearing contacts right now. Can't see a God damn thing without 'em!"

Zonic glanced over at his twin, the look on his face being very peculiar. Sonic caught it, and understood immediately what that meant. He nodded at him, before looking back at Scourge who continued to talk.

"Leeet's seeeee," Scourge looked at the ceiling. "Well, I was a super nerd. Wore converse kicks and everything. Got straight A's and all that jazz. Believe it or not, I was actually a book worm. Guilty pleasure of mine. I still kinda am, ya know?" He pushed himself off of the table and landed on his feet. "Finally, I almost went to college at the age of thirteen years old. Can ya believe it? Neither can I! To be honest, it's only because my dad pulled some strings but, my grades were still so fuckin' awesome that I skipped a grade like every year or so." He then scowled. "That is, before I got dropped out by daddio to do his stupid work at the castle. He was such a spazz..." He chuckled a little, until it became a full-on cackle. "Hahaha! I'm so glad I killed him! Such a fuckin' pain in my ass, let me tell ya. Dude would not lay the fuck off. Oh well," He looked at everyone and shrugged. "Anyone else got a question about me? No? Well then," He looked directly at Zonic. "About your monitors, I did indeed lock them. Back in the day, I'd just bash a computer with my bat whenever it crashed on me. But I got my smarts back, so I'm like a pro-level hacker. And look at you now! You almost got all the pieces in the puzzle! Good job commander!" He applauded with a smile.

Sonic tightened his fist, and let go of Shadow's arm. "...If you're so smart, why did you fail at killing me and my friends in the past?" The fact that someone dared to speak up and say something to their enemy, caused everyone to look his way.

"It's, _my friends and I_ , my dear blue lover." He wagged his finger at him. "Believe it one not, I've got an IQ score bigger than your world's Robotnik. But when these fuckers arrested me," He pointed at Zonic specifically. "They did everything they could to fuck my brain up, to make me stupid!" He snarled. "That's why when I escaped the first time, I failed in killing you so many times, because I was _so stupid!_ They ruined my brain. In a way, I guess you could say my failed attempts were just a phase."

"Just a phase?" Sonic repeated slowly. "Just a _phase?!_ You trying to kill me and my friends, that was just a damn phase?!" He yelled.

"Tch, yeah, durr." He threw up his hands nonchalantly. "Not my fault, they're the ones who made me stupid. They turned me into a normal, ignorant teenager. Remember, I'm the same age as you. I was fifteen, sixteen at the time. Of course it was just a phase. No no no, see the real shit's gonna happen here, now in No Zone." He pointed to the floor as a gesture. "What I did in the past compared to now, was child's play. And soon, you'll see why you should have just stayed in my control in the first place!" He spawned his spiked bat in his hand, twirling it with his fingers. He was going to come at them, he was going to swing at them, and his eyes were turning red!

Zonic instantly turned to the ultimate life form. "Shadow prime!"

The ebony hedgehog held out one hand, open palm. With clenched teeth, he charged power into his hand. Sonic then yelled for everyone to get down or move out of the way. With a grunt, Shadow cried out his special move. "Chaos Blast!"

A large energy blast shot throughout the room, destroying eighty percent of the meeting room. The very sound of the blast was so loud, some of the officers covered their ears or shielded their eyes from how bright it was. They took cover in certain parts of the room, but a majority of the cops were using themselves as meat shields for their commander or the warden.

When the light eminitating from the blast died down, Sonic went to Shadow's side to look at the damage. Then his eyes widened.

Scourge was no longer there.

That monster, he just initiated the war.

* * *

 **END - 27**

 **EDIT: It says edit because I didn't plan on writing an author's note for this chapter. This chapter was ready a long time, just never sent it out. Uh, right now's a super bad time for me. I'm writing this note minutes before I post it, it was literally on the spot. I'm writing it for people who don't read my Yugioh stories, because I vaguely explained in an update there about what's going on with me. Basically, it's personal family shit that is making me tear my fucking hair out, that's also preventing me from having my main desktop. If you wanna read it, it's the ending author's note in chapter 18 of 95.I: Aftermath. If you don't care, that's fine. It was a really whiny and stupid note anyway that will soon be deleted.**

 **I wanted to update this story at least once because I did promise that I'd return around the beginning of summer time. I'm kinda all over the place right now, and I'm not even giving the Sonic community of this site that much attention as of now.**

 **...**

 **I don't know when I'll fully be back here, updates are gonna be pretty fucked from now on. (As if they weren't already.)**

 **I'm sorry about my inactiveness, I just pretty much suck at everything I do.**

 **Hope you all have a better day.**


	32. Full Scale

**28 - Full Scale**

* * *

The second Scourge disappeared, Zonic went full on army general mode. He yelled for the others to get out of the building immediately and to report outside where they were supposed to be. Colonel Zector rushed down to the HQ's back exit, which led to the path that went directly to their oceans. He was the Fleet Admiral of their navy, so he commanded the seas. He got in his favorite destroyer ship, with five silver stars on it's bow. Colonel Zespio went to the top floor of the tower. As the General of the Air Force, he hopped in the best fighter jet in their hangar. He ruled the skies, with five silver stars on his plane. Both close and powerful men to their lieutenant general, they digitized on their high ranking, specially modified Zone Cop uniforms.

Soldiers began to get in their small planes and fighter jets to take off. Others down below boarded their ships and motorboats, heading off away from the coast. The fight was predicted to happen on land, but there was a reason why they were separating like this. Like Zobotnik said, they were going off of their previous formation from the last war. That formation, was to have the branches of the military separate. The navy to the seas, and their air force to the skies. The navy, with their strongest ships, were to surround the coast of the Zedgewood greenfield. Little did their enemy know, that was directly across a beach. The navy would not only act as a wall for No Zone's perimeter, but it would also guard the rear end of their battle field.

As for their jets soaring in the sky, they were to act almost as air sentries. There would be a few flying over the main city, the HQ, the ocean, and the greenfield. This would absolutely surround their enemy from each end. As for their army who had to fight on foot, they would be in an organized and appropriately structured formation in the field. They were off now, marching to the area with weapons in their hands and their sleek uniforms fitting their bodies. Others such as the hackers, bombs squads, scientists, counselors and psychiatrists, were requested to stay inside of the building for safety as they weren't fit for combat.

However, they were still assigned to bare arms if necessary, and to be on high alert. Low ranking but strong soldiers were still to be on patrol in the prison, which was on a very strict lock down for the time being. In fact, by order of the warden, all inmates were forcefully put to sleep. They didn't want Scourge to take advantage of a fight, and cause yet another prison riot. They would not wake up until the next day. The hackers were also assigned with a special job: to detect anything that may look similar to chaos energy. Zonic didn't want what happened to Mobius prime to happen here, so he had them ready to fight off whatever control Scourge might activate in their territory. Medics were also on the scene of the battle field, while some stayed inside of HQ as well. Anyone who wasn't physically or mentally fit to fight in this war, were told to evacuate with their families, not to return until the result of the battle was confirmed.

Finally, Zonic gave both Shadow and Sonic some ear pieces so they could hear instructions during battle. They were also given control gauntlets to help boost their strengths, and special tiny chips installed in their shoes to help them walk on walls like them at any time. He then instructed Shadow to go along with some of his high ranking officers out to the greenfield, so they could get ready with the troops. He wanted to keep Sonic for just a little while longer, but he promised they'd catch up soon. Right before he left, he secretly pulled Sonic aside and gave him a quick but passionate kiss. He then went off on his own with the others, leaving Sonic red and dreamy.

The twins were now on the roof, in front of the one of the many helipads. A chopper was waiting for the commander to be escorted in, the pilot patiently waiting for them to get on. Zonic still didn't physically digitize his combat uniform on, Sonic noticed, but he knew why. With strong winds from the propellers of the attack chopper blowing their quills fiercely, Zonic loudly told the pilot to cover his eyes. Perplexed by such an odd and even childish request, the pilot just stared. Zonic scowled and ordered for him to do it more roughly this time. "I told you to look away and cover your eyes! And if you peek, not only will I revoke your license to pilot my air crafts, I will suspend you dishonorably from HQ and destroy your status. Do it, _now._ " He shouted.

Both Sonic and the pilot flinched with fearful whimpers, and he saluted while looking away and covering the face of his helmet with his gloved hands. With a sigh, Zonic gave Sonic a small smile. He held up his finger to his lips, telling him without words that they needed to be quiet and fast. Sonic started to smile back.

This plan was going to be so awesome.

* * *

Shadow was now riding on the back of one of the zone cops' motorcycles. Well, more like standing on the back seat while looking at their surrounding with his arms crossed over his chest. So this was where they were going to fight, huh? This beautiful green field with neatly grown blades of grass. There wasn't a tree or flower in sight. Not for miles. Sure, he could have just ran there in seconds but, Zonic instructed them not to leave his troops until the fighting started. Zonic understood that Shadow and Sonic could hold their own no problem and fight alone, but he didn't want them to separate from the group before Scourge showed his face.

Other motorcycles, military vehicles and even tanks, followed behind them at a fairly decent pace. While Shadow's already seen his fair shares of militia and tanks thanks to GUN, he never saw an army like this before. Like he said previously, Zonic was one thousand times a better commander than Commander Tower. It was no surprise that their entire military was a thousand times better too. Their vehicles were highly advanced, and some of them even floated or flew above ground like the flying police cars. He had to admit, even though none of them were at his or Sonic's level, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

...

...Huh?

The hell was that?

"Oh shit." Shadow mumbled. His abnormal eyesight could see hundreds of yards away, that black trucks were coming their way. They weren't moving very fast, and were probably moving at the same pace as they were. Still, he could figure out that those black trucks belonged to yours truly. Didn't Sonic mention that he was kidnapped and put in one of those things? Definitely the property of Scourge. "Do you see that?" He asked loud enough so the driver could hear him over the bike's loud rumbles.

"Uh," She held up one hand from the handle bars and pressed her finger in the side of her helmet. Chaos, how many damn hidden buttons were in those things? She adjusted the view in the pro shield of her head ornament. She scoffed and placed her hand back down. "Yeah I see it. There's at least two hundred of trucks."

"Yeah, and there's probably more than a thousand of his minions." He added. "How much of you are there?" He looked down below. The female driver, who was a tiger, carefully tucked her tail around her waist so it wouldn't get in the way while the rode.

"Honestly? Only a little more than five thousand."

" _What?_ " Shadow blinked. That wasn't a damn army! That was just a brigade! "You're kidding." He realized, there weren't that many people in HQ, or traveling to the battle field right now. She laughed and shrugged one of her shoulders.

"Yup. We're pretty small, but that doesn't matter. What we lack in numbers, we make up for ten fold in strategy and strength." She revved up the vehicle and pushed the pedal a little faster. "We fought an army of ten thousand robots, before. _That's_ an army."

Holy crap did she sound reckless. Kind of reminded him of a certain someone. "True, but they're not robots."

"Yeah, but we've got commander Zonic on our side." She smirked underneath her helmet. "I've been around before he became commander, but he's really something else. Probably the smartest kid I ever met, and he deserves that position. With him guiding us, I know we're gonna win again. Even against these freaks." She looked to the side and held up a pumped fist. "Am I right guys!?" She yelled, referring to the military vehicles and tanks close by them. The men and women in said vehicles pumped up their fists as well outside of their windows and cheered on along with her. She chuckled and looked back at the road ahead of them. "Look kid," She said, making Shadow raise an eye ridge. He was for sure decades older than she was. "I know you and that Sonic guy got all these freaky cool powers and what not, but I guarantee ya, you won't have to do much here." She said with a cocky attitude. Did Sonic's spirit leave his body and possess her or something? "In fact, by the end of this, you guys won't even have to lift one finger to help us out. Just leave it to the professionals."

While he was glad their spirits were up, he didn't like the fact that they were underestimating their enemy. That was the mistake he himself made before, despite Sonic's several warnings. He paid for it too, more than once. This woman, judging by the medal on her chest, was a pretty high ranking soldier. Probably one of the best of the best. She was going to lead some of her comrades to their deaths if she kept talking like that. "...Know thyself and know thy enemy." He replied quietly.

To this, she tilted her head. "Huh, good quote. I'll remember that."

"Let's hope that you will." He narrowed his ruby eyes at the upcoming army of black trucks. "That all of you will.." He trailed off.

 _If you don't want to die,_ is what he wanted to say.

After a few minutes, she drove to a stop. Then, the vehicles behind her either stopped, or drove to the side to get in a certain position. Soon, groups of different types of military vehicles lined up in the order Zonic detailed accordingly. The motorcycles or smaller mobiles were on the front lines, the military vehicles were more in the middle, and the tanks were in the back. Even further where the coast lied, navy ships were glaring back at them all with their weapons ready. Shadow stepped down from the bike, and the female zone cop stood by with her hands behind her back. Nearly everyone got out or off of their vehicles, standing beside them silently.

They were in the same position as they would be in a line up. Shadow noted that there were quite a number of soldiers here. He then heard the sound of planes and jets. He looked up and saw their Air Force high up, standing by. They were all waiting for something, or rather, someone.

At last, an attack chopper with a large golden star on the side of it flew directly above the grounding army, and just below some of the fighter jets. It stood still, and one of the doors slid open. Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow noticed one more aircraft, and it was ginormous. It was a blimp, or some kind of airship. When the hell-no, _where_ the hell was that thing held at? It wasn't that far away from the other aircrafts, and there was a pair of large screens on both sides of it. Like one of those air vessels that flew around with advertisements. A golden star was on it's tail, signaling that it was indeed military property.

Suddenly, it flashed on, and a familiar face showed.

Out of the chopper, a blue hedgehog jumped down and gracefully landed beside Shadow. His lover, who seemed rather serious, glanced over at him before looking away again. That was, a little strange. Usually he'd give a thumbs up, or a smile or smirk. No matter what the circumstances, Sonic would always flash a confident smile before the start of a fight. Or perhaps he couldn't, because of who they were up against.

Lights from the heavens shined down upon the chopper, a small portion of the sky directly above the helicopter glimmered through just as their lieutenant general stepped out to face the world. The clouds were parting just for him? What a coincidence. Just as he did, those trucks got close, and ended up parking in the same form as the zone cops. The bandits and criminals wearing all black stepped out of their trucks and casually stood by. Their outfits looked very similar from the last time they saw them, but more reinforced. Even stranger, why did they all seem normal? Like they weren't being controlled. Both he and Sonic witnessed first hand how a hypnotized victim looked. Lost, confused, empty or just dreadfully wrong. These guys looked like they just had a good night's rest.

And lo and behold, the green deviant was sitting on top of one of the trucks' roofs in the front lines. He looked down upon the No Zone soldiers from afar, lightly smiling. He started shaking his head in a 'tsk tsk' fashion, with his legs crossed and his fist underneath his chin. He then winked at Sonic while licking his lips. Sonic however paid this no mind, and continued to glower. Shadow on the other hand, felt a vein throb on his head.

Zonic stood on the floor of the chopper, his combat modified night stick in his hands. His uniform was on, with his several medals glinting from the sun. His helmet was off, so they all could see his face clearly. He used the night stick like a staff, leaning against it between his legs with both of his palms, eyeing down Scourge like a peasant. He didn't need a microphone for what he was about to say.

They'd all hear him, and they'd all listen to every word.

" **O** **gilvie Maurice** ," He called with the expression of a dictator. That's how fierce he looked right now. "You act as the shepherd that guides the flock of mindless and pitiful sheep to your madness. You act as a God among the innocents who did you no wrong. You've stolen, burned, raped, abused and killed for years. While you are powerful, you were never unstoppable. You were never invincible, you were never a God who couldn't bleed." His voice was so powerful and headstrong, so booming and resilient. "You made yourself out to be the evil genius you always thought you were. Causing more havoc and destruction than any other villain we've ever encountered. Yet with that cunning intelligence of yours, you forget one thing," He slammed his night stick against the surface of the helicopter. "Ignorance is truly terrifying in action. You're no longer in Moebius, anti-Sonic. You're playing on our field, now."

He clicked one of his heels, and every soldier saluted instantaneously. Military boots stomping into the ground echoed far across the land. Scourge looked more or less impressed by the speech, and just continued to stare with anticipation in the same position.

With a frown, Sonic suddenly spoke. "Scourge," This made both Shadow and Scourge look at the blue hedgehog curiously.

"Mmn, yes daddy~?" The anti-double flirted while fluttering his eyes.

His flirting still didn't bother him, he remained undaunted. "This is your _last_ chance." He said. "You can come with us quietly. It doesn't have to go down like this."

In response, Scourge no longer smiled. He just gave Sonic a peculiar glare. One that said, 'you've gotta be joking'. No, he wouldn't be giving up now. He honestly didn't know why he even asked that, but it was worth a shot. With his silence, he sighed, and looked up at the commander.

As the growing winds continued to blow his quills, there was a growing pause. Zonic soon started to smirk. "By the way," He began to hold up one of his arms, his hand open palmed. "You trashed our HQ and kidnapped my men to study their armor and weaponry. Well, there's one thing I'm sure you couldn't copy." He said. Scourge pointed to himself with his mouth agape in a goofy manner. "Funded by No Zone Corp and engineered by Warden Zobotnik himself,"

In the distance, No Zone Tower started shaking. Parts of the building shifted and turned, moving and functioning like a gigantic droid. Windows lifted, walls moved, dust gushed out. Cannons, large turrets, giant machines and assault weapons protruding from all sides of the entire structure appeared. All of the weapons turned and aimed in their direction, specifically at Scourge. Before their eyes, the tower became a humongous weapon. Shadow blinked. So this was probably why Scourge never dared to step inside of No Zone HQ when he had the chance. He didn't want to get hit by whatever the hell that was!

Scourge's ice blue eyes rose with alarm. He genuinely didn't anticipate that. He knew something was wrong with the building earlier, but he didn't know it'd be _this_.

"... _The Ultimate Weapon_." Zonic announced.

Instantly, one of the largest machines on the Tower, locked, loaded and blasted a thin but lengthy missile. The missile was probably as long as a fighter jet. The ground shook with how loud the weapon was, and rumbled with cracks growing in between the grass. It was traveling fast, too. Probably as fast as Sonic, or Shadow. It was nearing them, coming closer miles and miles per minute.

In only a few more seconds, that missile collided with Scourge.

It nailed him in the stomach, not even striking the truck. It literally knocked him off of his feet, taking him with it in the air. He coughed up copious amounts of spit, his eyes shrinking in pain. After traveling a good sum of feet in the air, the missile exploded. In black and grey puffs of air, everyone watched with uncertainty. Then, through the smoke, the missile reared it's head through once again. This time facing the opposite direction, the zone cops' direction. With red sparks electrifying the missile, Scourge sat on it's base with an evil expression. He had used chaos energy to possess and redirect the weapon. He was just fine, with not a scratch on his body. He then flipped off of the missile, that soon traveled across the greenfield and towards the navy ships. Not a moment later, it collided with the beach in a devastating impact.

A large explosion rose up, and sand blew and scattered everywhere.

Zonic stared at the explosion with wide eyes. He shot his hand up at his collar and pressed his fingers against it. "Colonel Zector, are you alright?!"

With some static, it didn't take long for the other to reply. _"Everything's all good here, it nearly hit one of us. There's a little damage, but everyone's okay!"_ With a sigh of relief, Zonic smiled to himself. He should have known better than to doubt him.

The Ultimate Weapon would take some time before it could cool off to shoot more missiles. They never tested the weapon until now, but at least they knew it worked. And at least they knew just how durable this bastard was. "Excellent. Had a feeling that would fail somehow, just not like that. In any case, move to phase one. I'll contact you if I need you to move in."

 _"Yes sir!"_

Scourge flicked small bits of debris from his jacket and ran his hand through his quills. He checked his nails, before blowing on them with boredom. He had landed in front of his crew, one hand on his hip while flipping the No Zone soldiers off. "Oh shit, my bad guys. I didn't know your HQ was a motherfuckin' MVP. Pretty sweet, but you didn't actually plan on killing me with that, did you? _Weeeellll_ ," He held up both of his arms, and once he did, his men aimed heavy weapons at the zone cops. "Allow me to retort with a barrage of bullshit of my own. Aaaannnd..." He trailed off with a cheeky grin. "Check this out, Imma 'bout to throw some French shit at your asses-" He pointed both index fingers at them while dancing his feet around on the ground. Shadow and Sonic stiffened. " _Décocher!_ " He yelled.

A literal barrage of bullets came their way, waiting to dart into someone's skull and kill them with a head shot.

Zonic quickly gave an order. "Central front, spread out and march." He calmly commanded with a strong voice. He bent down and picked up his helmet. Air pushed out as it slipped onto his cranium and fit his skull properly. He put two fingers to the side of it and relayed a message to Zespio. "You know what to do, Colonel. Aim to wound." The soldiers on the ground who weren't in military vehicles or tanks, easily dodged the several dozen onslaughts of bullets. This included both Sonic and Shadow. Zonic didn't want them to go off just yet. They were moving quickly not to literally march, but surround the bulk of Scourge's army. Scourge's bandits didn't let up on their shooting though, and kept at it by the green hedgehog's command.

The jets from above swooped closely and shot their own bullets from their gatling guns. Zespio's plane dropped a few bombs. Not on the people, but on the trucks. Scourge's men didn't have any big military vehicles like tanks or anything, and they were all out of their trucks to shoot, which was a stupid move. Zonic wanted them destroyed, because the close range of the explosions would damage and hurt his gang members. Like he said, he didn't want them to be killed, only wounded. The bullets from the jets were also shooting specifically at limbs of his men, not any vital areas.

But right as any projectile from the zone cops could have hit someone or something, the bullets Scourge's army shot and missed, exploded. Smoke and fire didn't come out, but a red puff of mist, did. Soon, it rose into the air and spread all throughout greenfield. Once it did, it created a red looking force field that covered the heads of anyone underneath the fire of the jets. Their bullets and bombs didn't hit, and exploded on nothing. The shield trapped everyone underneath it with that red mist. Everyone knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to hypnotize them all at once. That's why everyone was out of their trucks, because Scourge wanted a chance for every single one of his men to shoot at least one bullets that would blast out that red energy. Scourge laughed as everyone would soon become a mind slave.

"Ahahaha-Huh?" He stopped. "The fuck?" He tilted his head as his own people ceased their fire with similar confused looks on their faces.

Everyone, was fine. Even Sonic and Shadow, who were smirking at him.

"Oh- _Ooohhh.._ " Scourge scratched his chin. "You guys got a little somethin' programmed in your cute little suits, right? Ah, that makes sense-"

The zone cops aimed their own weapons, and Sonic and Shadow straightened their postures.

Scourge blinked. "Uh oh."

All soldiers and the two hedgehogs heard their leader speak to them once more via transmitter or ear piece. _"Fire."_

After he uttered the word 'fire', the soldiers whipped out their weapons from their thick belts and wasted no time pressing their trigger fingers. But they didn't shoot bullets, they shot rubber bullets that acted similarly to control collars or control gauntlets. However, none of the projectiles nailed their target either, as they bounded off of smaller force fields that protected Scourge's men individually. Shadow clenched his teeth. Of course he'd have a back up plan for that. Then, they saw that the same force field used for them, wasn't used for Scourge. He didn't protect himself.

He was shot.

Multiple, times, in very vital areas. That should have drained him of energy.

But...

All of the wounds from the rubber bullets had no effect, and it did not drain him of any energy at all. The bruises healed almost immediately, and he stood in the same position with a nasty leer on his muzzle. He then stepped back to one of his own members and snatched a gun from his hands. They just allowed him to take it, even bowing his head at him after doing so. Scourge then looked down at the gun, then at Zonic's army. They aimed again just in case, but he didn't plan on using the weapon on anyone. He then grew a toothy grin as he raised the gun against the side of his own head.

Shadow felt beside him that Sonic was growing increasingly uncomfortable by this. He was shaking his head, his mouth agape. It was like he was trying to say 'no', over and over, but nothing came out. He held up one hand and tried to move forward, until Shadow gave him a look and pushed him back. He didn't want him to get near him, just in case he'd pull something out of the blue.

A single loud bang was heard.

Scourge pulled the trigger.

His brains splattered from the side of his head while his eyes widened unexpectedly. His limbs started shaking, and he dropped the gun. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and fell face first to the ground. Up above in the helicopter, Zonic watched in horror at the suicide. Scourge's men just stared down at his body with uncaring expressions. Why? Why did they not care? When Scourge's hand began twitching, Sonic narrowed his eyes. That bastard was regenerating! Soon he stood up with blood pooling down his face, which seemed a little too dark to be considered 'red' anymore, and laughed while carefully patting out his quills to get out any brain matter they may have stuck onto him after shooting himself. "It's a lie! Heheheh." He pouted and looked off to the side. "Silly zone cops, you can't hurt me." He then put his hands in his pockets and leaned back onto one of his men. "And you can't kill me either."

"You're immortal..?" Shadow found himself whispering.

"Nm, kinda. But not like you." He said with disgust. "Unlike you, I actually have a slab of immortality, not that 'Oh I don't age so I must be immortal!' bullshit." He snapped his fingers, and his bandits in black clad rushed off from the scene to move away from the army while dropping their weapons. The forcefield enveloping them all disappeared. They were heading over to the soldiers who stayed in their tanks and military vehicles. "Lemem give you the actual fuckin' definition for immortality, kay Stripes?" In red mist, his signature red glasses materialized in his fingers. He twirled them before placing them on his face, and pushing them up from the base of his black nose. With a know-it-all-like tone, he began relaying the actual meaning of immortality, as his gang went to attack the no zone soldiers. "Immortality, the long lasting ability to live forever. Never dying, never decaying, deathless and eternal..."

Meanwhile, the commander's instincts went off the radar.

Zonic ran to his pilot's side and motioned for him to get the chopper moving as he planned to speak into his transmitter. They nodded and quickly grabbed at the controls. "Attention everyone! This a warning. The anti-Sonic is semi-immortal. He cannot be wounded, and cannot die by physical harm alone! Do not engage with him, leave him to me, Sonic or Shadow prime!" He watched from the front window down below, the tanks starting to fire their turrets. Now those tanks didn't hold rubber bullets, they were armed with actual ammo. "No, stop!" He commanded. "They cannot be wounded, they are protecting by anti-Sonic's power! You are wasting ammo, do not shoot at any of them." He frowned and glared at the green dot below them from high up. "We're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." He slammed his fist on the wall of the chopper. "Out of your vehicles! Don't pull any punches, and don't let any of them get their hands on our tanks!" He bent down to check his shoes and properly fastened them with a click.

The pilot looked over before looking right back at the sky. "Sir, what are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" Zonic curtly replied. "I'm going down there."

"What?!" He turned around completely this time. "Sir, with all due respect-"

"Your permission to speak is now being denied."

"Sir, please." He pleaded. "Let us fight for you. These tyrants, they're dangerous! You could get killed-" He was getting a transmission from inside of the helicopter. They both paused and glanced at each other. The pilot then slowly picked up the transmitter from it's compartment next to the dashboard, and held it near his lips.

 _"Mayday, the general's going down! Colonel Zepsio's been hit!"_ A soldier cried.

Zonic made a growl of anger and ran to the side of the helicopter from it's open doors, to see Zespio's brand new fighter jet twist around and make a mechanical screech of death as explosions imploded from inside of the aircraft. Damn it, he was still in there! The other planes or jets had moved away to avoid being crashed into, but that jet was about to land on some of his men. "All of you down below, move now!" Zonic yelled. Zone cops who were below the crashing vessel yelled and screamed as they barely ran or jumped to get away. Zonic then hopped out of the chopper, with his pilot yelling his name along the way. Zonic's shoes blasted air from the soles and boosted him forward in the purple chameleon's way.

He looked as if he was unconscious, because he wasn't activating his equipment to fly either. Shit, the commander thought. He flew even faster towards the ground, trying to get some distance between him and his colonel. He then traveled far enough as to where he was below him in the air, and spread out his arms. The chameleon landed in his arms roughly, causing Zonic to slightly lose his balance from the impact of his falling weight. He grunted and prepared himself to land on the ground while holding Zespio tightly in his arms. Once his feet made contact with the ground, he landed with a stumble and almost fell backwards. He landed so hard, he made skid marks in the grass on the ground. He forced himself to stay up, refusing to lose balance again. Once he finally stopped moving, he blew out a large sigh of relief and knelt below to place his colonel's body down. He pushed his finger onto his helmet with another order.

"I need a medic, Colonel Zespio is down. I repeat, Colonel Zespio is in need of medical attention! Prepare the base and ready the infirmary!"

* * *

"...Furthermore, it's quite often people confuse vampiric themes with the concept of 'immortality', but this is completely and utterly inaccurate as vampires are not immortal..." Holy shit, this asshole was actually reciting an actual monologue about the word 'immortal'. He literally just stood there as his own men and women of his were fighting with their very lives against the universe's best military ever known, ignoring the brutal violence of simple hand-to-hand combat. While most of Zonic's men ran from this area to go fight off Scourge's, they stood there just as mind blown as they were that Scourge was actually doing this right now.

His speech was soon interrupted by a falling jet.

They all watched as it fell and landed on the ground in a pitiful state, exploding one last time with pieces of it's metal body flying away in different directions. A scratched up golden star was on it. Wasn't Zespio in there? Sonic bit his lip nervously, as some of the other remaining soldiers gasped and ran off to investigate. Scourge shrugged and took off his glasses. "That was me, sorry 'bout that." He said to them. The two hedgehogs grit their teeth in rage, and readied themselves to strike. "No _no_ ," Scourge sighed and faced them while stuffing his glasses in his varsity jacket pocket. "Just stop, come on. You guys can't fight me, I'd crush you like a couple of gnats." He then looked at Sonic. "Come on big daddy~"

"Stop calling him that." Shadow snarled.

Scourge just lowered his eyes and made a lopsided frown. "'Not talking to you, you half-assed immortal Ultimate Lifeform. I'm talking to my future wife over here."

...Wife? Sonic felt bile developing in his stomach.

"Unless you're going to hit one of us, I'd advise you piss off." The black hedgehog was stepping closer. Shit, they were going to do this now? While being slightly taller than Scourge by perhaps, a couple centimeters, he glared down at the green menace while charging chaotic energy into his arms. His red eyes were furious, and almost looked like fire was brewing in them. Scourge just stared back with his arms pleasantly behind his back. He rose a brow and cocked his head to the side with a curious, almost child-like gaze.

"Well what are you waiting for?" He asked softly. "Come on bad boy," He murmured. "Be a good boyfriend and kick my ass for your hubby."

Shadow, without looking back at Sonic, just told him to leave. "Help the others." He hissed. "I got this."

"...Shadow-" He tried to protest.

" _Go_." He said.

While still biting his lip, Sonic closed his eyes shut and turned away sharply. Sprinting away and leaving a blue streak with a strong wind. Scourge saw this in the corner of his eye and started to frown. "Aye, aye aye! Hold on now-" He stepped around Shadow and ran in the exact same direction as Sonic. "Hold on damn it, I need to capture you! Blue, wait a damn second!" He just up and ran away from Shadow. That actually made him want to chew his damn throat out. That little shit was running away from a fight just like that? The ebony hedgehog bared his teeth and sprinted the same way while preparing a surprise.

As they all ran, Sonic turned to look behind and see Scourge running while desperately asking for him to stop. That maniac was chasing after him!

"Come on Blue, stoooop!" He whined loudly, earning the attention of anyone they ran passed. "If you're mad about us sabotaging all of step daddy's cool fighter jets, then I'm sooorrrrry! Please don't be mad!"

Wait, what did he just say!?

Sonic skidded with a stop and whipped his head around to look into his face head on with an angry expression. "What did you just say?" He asked lowly. "You did _what?_ "

Scourge saw his anger and sadly looked at the ground while poking his fingers together. His cheeks were red, and he seemed embarrassed. "Oh, well, I kinda got the idea to sabotage all of step daddy's planes so they'd all blow up and crash down onto you guys. I bombed the boats too..."

 _"And now," He smirked. "I got a motherfuckin' class assignment for all y'all. Let's pay a visit to the big man himself, shall we? After all, there's still one more piece of preparation..." He turned his head towards the direction of No Zone Corp HQ. "...that I haven't finished yet."_

He carefully looked up at Sonic's angry green eyes, just to blush even more and hug himself while looking away in a flustered state. "I um, call Zonic 'step daddy'. Heheh, get it?" After hearing no response from a now pissed off Sonic, he chuckled nervously. "Ehh, sorry about that. You can forgive me though right?" Sonic was about to open his mouth to holler at him, until he saw something behind his evil twin. So he just shut his mouth and began backing away. Scourge noticed this and started to follow him slowly all over again. "Hm? Hey, don't leave, I'm talking to you-"

A chaos lance was shoved into the side of his head.

Well would you look at that, he's been impaled.

He stood still as another stabbed right through his back. Ooh, twice in one go. That was just another Saturday night for him. The force of the second lance striking him from behind was so powerful, it knocked him onto the ground. It stabbed him through the grass and down below the outer core of the planet. Blood spewed from his wounds, and stained the grass blades. Sonic was gone, and he could see a blue streak whirling around the battle field. Scourge sighed to himself again, and tapped his finger irritably.

"Never, turn your back on me." A deep voice growled.

"Oh fuck me..." Scourge mumbled while grabbing the lance behind him to rip it out of his body. He tossed it away and it disappeared in dusts of light. He stood up and ripped the other one out of his head, only to see it disappear in little chaotic embers as well. He dusted off his ruined jacket for the hundredth time today.

"Did you enjoy being impaled, freak?" Shadow asked even as he watched his enermy's mortal wounds heal quickly.

"Well, you ruined one of my favorite jackets and put a hole in both my brain and my back." He said as he carelessly shrugged off his varsity jacket, now only wearing a white T with black trims on the sleeves and collar. It fit his body flawlessly, and not one part of it was loose. "Given the fact that I'm a masochist with a terribly unhealthy and violent sexual obsession with your fuck buddy, I guess that's kinda true. So yeah, 'impaled's a good one." He wrapped his destroyed jacket by it's sleeves around his waist and put his hands back in their pockets. "Lucky for me, I've already had my fair shares of both consensual and non-consensual group orgies, so that didn't sting too bad."

"You're repulsive."

Scourge smiled. "And you're a lucky man too, Stripes. You got to fuck the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog. Do you _not_ get how fucking monumental that is?" He walked and paced around in circles, continuing to talk and talk _and talk._ Shadow didn't care for any of it, he just wanted to punch him. "God I'm so jealous of you, dude. I'm _so_ damn jealous, man. I know he felt good."

Shadow was nearing his breaking point. "Quit your rambling and put up, or shut the fuck up."

"Ugh, so rude." He flagged the dark hedgehog off. "What, you don't wanna hear about my rape fantasies? The things I wanna do to your precious Sonic when I finally have his sexy ass in my hands? How I'll rape him, beat him, cut him, starve him-"

"Enough!" Shadow rose a charging fist at him.

"Nah ah ah!" Scourge held up a finger quickly, then pointed it in the sky. "I think you might wanna take a look at that up there." His eyes glinted red and he looked as well, his arm at a specific angle at the clouds. Strange, he wasn't pointing near the fighter jets. Shadow squinted his eyes and followed his finger, and saw something in the distance. That was the blimp, wasn't it? The screen was off now, but it looked as if it was traveling towards the city. That is, until red energy engulfed it's form. It then moved and turned, facing the greenfield. Shadow blinked. He was making it fly this way, but why? Was he planning on crashing that down too?

Red electricity surged throughout the screen planted on the blimp, and glitched it's picture back online. Scourge face was now showing. He had hacked it in order to record him instead of their commander. Shadow glanced back at his green adversary with venom as he started walking around again.

"I wanna show you guys something..." He began, his voice echoing all over the greenfield.

The screen's footage glitched into another video, but it wasn't showing anything live. It was showing something that was already prerecorded. The screen then began to show an obscene scenario. Prisoners, former prisoners of No Zone were being... _executed_. In various and gruesome ways. It was just a quick compilation of their deaths, one by one, year after year printed at the bottom of each tape. Warden Zobotnik was present in every single one, and so was that Zhadow guy. A lot of high ranking soldiers were present-Was that _Zonic?_ He was there too? He just stood by and watched the executions too?

The various methods of executions ranged from hanging, to very obscure killing devices that was probably created by the Warden himself. Shadow couldn't stand watching this. For one, because it brought back way too many bad memories of his days with GUN. And two, because he couldn't stand watching knowing that Zonic, was actually okay with participating in these events. This footage had to have been real, since it had real dates and real people's information being read aloud before they died. Their names, their birthdates, why they're in prison and so on. And was it really that farfetched to think that the warden here would be malicious enough to not only watch the executions, but even create the very devices that ended their lives? This was still an alternative version of Eggman we were talking about here. Zonic said that before he was in power, a lot of bad things were legal in the prison. Perhaps he had no choice but to participate in the executions at the time but...

Scourge began to speak, as the fighting seemed to have died down so everyone could see the videos on that big blimp. It got closer to the battle grounds, giving them all a good view of the sins being committed by the very people they were fighting for. "To all my minions fighting for me, I just wanna show you what's gonna happen if you let these assholes win. Say they show mercy and arrest you, they're just gonna kill you in the worse way possible once they've got you in their clutches."

Sonic, who was in the middle of punching a thug, was speechless.

That was just, God awful.

That was just pure evil. Who did that on a regular basis, nearly every year? To just create killing devices and entertain themselves with an execution? Why were some of the cops in these videos smiling? Why were they laughing?

"Now you see what these people really are. They're all just pigs, devils!" He exclaimed malevolently. "They're the monsters, they're the ones who _create_ monsters! Kill or be killed, sin to stop the sinners! And the pinnacle of it all,"

The screen glitched to live footage again, this time showing Zonic's face who was currently with a medic and an unconscious Zespio.

"Is their precious commander! _Zonic the Overseer!_ " Scourge winked and directed the live footage back to himself with another glitch. "So we're gonna play a motherfuckin' game," He pointed at Shadow, to which the footage switched to him. "Catching wannabe semi-immortal bitches, are twenty points." The screen switched to random soldiers. "Regular pigs are, oh and no offense to anyone who's an actual pig, ahem-Are worth ten points." The screen switched to Zonic. "If you manage to catch this low-life piece of shit, you get thirty." Finally, The screen showed Sonic, who looked rather surprised to be on live video. "And if you come across my beautiful, but oh so pitiful blue dopple ganger and bring him to me," He sneered. "You win."

He just placed bounties on all of their heads.

He needed to get that asshole, right now. When Shadow looked to where the hedgehog previously stood, he realized Scourge was gone. Of course he'd run off while they were all distracted. Damn it, he should have used his chaos binds on that son of a bitch. Sonic was off on his own and he was probably after him again.

He needed to find him and fast so he could protect him.

* * *

Sonic needed to tell the others to get out of those planes. He placed his hand on his ear, trying to activate the ear piece Zonic gave him while running and dodging anyone in black who tried to stop him. "Hello? Zonic, is that you?"

 _"I'm here. What's wrong?"_

"All of the planes have been sabotaged, they're all rigged to blow! You gotta tell your men to abort and abandon ship!"

 _"All of them...?! Even the ships? Damn him!"_ He could soon hear from the other end that he was ordering for everyone else to get away from their vehicles immediately. _"Attention! If you are inside of a vehicle, aircraft or sea vessel, leave now! They've all be rigged to explode in an uncertain amount of time. Heed this warning or you will end up in a worser state than Colonel Zespio! I don't need any casualties, you hear me?!"_

Good, he warned them. Sonic could see from above that some of the jets were either flying or being abandoned by jumping out of them in safe areas. He could see from afar that others were running away from the beach and coming in their direction. The tanks drove themselves away from the battle so the drivers could desert them. Thank goodness, no one else would get hurt.

Just as he felt himself smile, he was socked in the face.

He grunted in pain and gnawed both sets of his teeth together. A grand hot mess of Scourge's bandits were surrounding him. They looked furiuos, and ready to cause serious harm. That execution compilation video probably boosted their intentions to kill no zone soldiers. That, and the fact that Scourge put bounties on their heads. Sonic scowled and cracked his knuckles.

He'd be damned if he let himself get captured by a couple of floozies like them.

They may have been armored up and kinda of strong, but he had this nice little control gauntlet, and he was positive it'd do a lot more damage than those rubber bullets. Using his speed, he charged into the closest guy nearby with a knee to the stomach. He then grabbed his body, holding up his body weight with both arms, and swung it into the others to knock a bulk of them down. Before one of them could raise their fists to attack him next, Sonic aimed his gauntlet at them and shot a pretty narrow laser right into their face. They went down immediately.

Sonic smiled to himself. These control thingies worked perfectly, and they were pretty cool. And if his eyes were correct, the laser also worked to paralyze enemies, because he saw red sparks surge throughout the gang member's body. With a smirk, he aimed at the others, who looked put off by this. They probably didn't anticipate the fact that Zonic had all of the control gauntlets boosted with a stronger power of neutralization.

He shot the rest of them who pathetically tried backing away, and they met the same fate.

He turned around to see a female soldier on the ground, her helmet off of her head and destroyed. She cried for help as other members of Scourge's gang cornered her and raised blunt objects. Sonic quickly sped up and sprinted at full force. He then collided himself with one of their abdomens. A headbutt to the gut. As the larger Moebian tried to recover, Sonic reached up and gripped his chin tightly, before taking a step and pushing his entire weight to shove him down into the ground. This made him land head first, knocking him out. He shot the control gauntlet at his skull to paralyze him before dealing with the next one.

The others who were previously beating the female officer gave their attention to Sonic and ran towards him while willing to strike him with their bludgeoning weapons. Bats, crowbars or chains. Yup, that was about right. Sonic forced himself dip low and moved his figure to the left as one of them almost nailed him in the shoulder with that crowbar. Three guys? He could take them. Sonic waited for the next attack before noticing they were planning on attacking him all at once this time. Smart.

Just as they swung, he went to the ground and swiped his leg around to kick them all off their feet. Once they were down, more came his way from another direction. It was fine though, he still had his stamina. Some of them had blunt objects as well, he noticed. He let them come to him, as he had a plan forming in his brain. As they came just a bit too close to his personal space, Sonic ran and disappeared in a gust of wind.

Both the female officer and the gang members were confused. Where'd he go?

Suddenly, they all fell down one by one.

Pains in their necks, pains in their knees, pains in their calfs, backs or stomach, caused them all to wallow in agony and fall down. In a blue streak, Sonic appeared before the officer again, flexing his fingers in the gauntlet. All he did was strike them in their vital areas and drained them of energy, nothing more. Sonic then jogged over to the woman and knelt down to her side. Hey, wasn't this the woman that was escorting Shadow to the battle location? She was a white tiger, so yeah this was her for sure.

"Are you okay? I'm surprised they got you down like that." He said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She made a sound of discomfort and immediately covered her chest with her arms. Sonic then realized, not only were parts of her uniform destroyed, but some of her breasts were visible. Oh wow...

Sonic cleared his throat and respectively looked away. "I uh, was told that female soldiers had special binds and wraps for situations like this." He looked across the field at the war to distract himself from her.

She sighed heavily. "I didn't bring them with me, I didn't think this would happen." She admitted sheepishly. "I'm such an idiot..."

"Seems that you underestimated your enemy." He pointed out, with an unusual stern tone. "That's one of the first things they teach in the army, isn't it?"

"Yes," She cursed to herself. "Commander Zonic would be ashamed to call me his Captain..."

"..." Sonic couldn't waste anymore time here, but he was glad he saved her. Hopefully she'd get some help and get back in the battle soon. "Just get to one of the bases set up around the field. They're on the outskirts though, so you'll have to go a long way."

She nodded and thanked him. "Yes, thank you. I'll make it on my own no problem." She pointed her finger beside him at something rather peculiar. "I saw that green asshole run in the middle of the field. Of course, he's looking for you."

Sonic scoffed. He had a little plan for that too. "Thanks for the heads up. Good luck!" He said before running off and leaving her in the dust of a fading blue streak.

"Be careful!" She yelled. Sonic was making a straight bee-line for Scourge.

He didn't plan on slowing down until he got at least one good hit in.

* * *

 **END - 28**


	33. Perks of A Gemini

**29 - Perks of A Gemini**

* * *

Whistling during a war wasn't that big of a deal, right?

It was kinda fun watching people beat the living snot out of each other until they end up unconscious or dead. It wasn't really fair though, because no one was really dying yet. Not even his own guys were dead yet. What a bore. It's not like he actually needed them, he just wanted to weaken No Zone's military force as much as he could, with a little bit of fun. Sure he could have destroyed the whole zone if he wanted to, but that wouldn't be fun. That'd just be boring. After running away from Stripes, just because he could and teasing him was so fun and he loved it so much, Scourge just stood literally in the middle of the entire fight. Not caring if anyone bumped into him or even hit him. He didn't move, only watched while humming Claire De Lune in his head. See, he would have brought his music player, but it'd just get destroyed.

He was looking around for Sonic every few minutes, but he didn't see any blue streaks. Sadly, he got away from him again. He could feel Fleetway whispering in his ears, telling him that Sonic and Shadow were recovering their powers without even knowing it. Soon, they would be able to use that power to transform and prove to be a bit of a problem. However, Scourge already calculated this, like he did with nearly everything. He purposely waited until now to start the war because he knew this would only end in two ways: Scourge would live, Sonic would be captured, and No Zone will have lost a great war with a large number of casualties. Or, Sonic would pull something out of his ass and some how defeat Scourge which would lead to his arrest for the fourth...third...Fifth? No, fourth time. Maybe. Anyway, no matter who won in this battle, it didn't matter to him.

Sonic wouldn't kill him, that's the point. Scourge would still be alive.

Even if he was beaten and his entire crew was killed or apprehended, they'd show mercy on him. He couldn't die, at least not by their hands, so he'd be able to do what he wanted even then. After the war, there was one last phase that was set in motion for his entire plan to work. All he needed, was to bait Sonic one more time and end it. If he had started the war earlier this week, Sonic and Shadow would be too weak to try and fight him in the grand finale. Yes, that's right, he wanted a proper fight. He didn't want to just obliterate them then and there, he wanted a challenge. And then he wanted to see them suffer, and then absorb their powers and eradicate them for good.

So Scourge personally didn't really give a shit about anything that was happening right now, because he still had his plan perfectly in motion.

Maybe he should just stay here and, maybe watch the clods move for a bit. Huh, that's funny. The sun wasn't really out right now, but it was still light. How ominous. Maybe that was just another taste of foreshadowing?

Well if it was, he was all for it.

* * *

Soldiers were falling, but they refused to stand down.

They always got back up again, just to strike back even harder. As corny as that sounded, that was the literal truth. Sonic lost count as to how many times he saw someone fall, get back, clench their teeth and throw a punch or a kick. They were all taught a decent amount of physical training, that much was obvious. With Scourge's men, it was a little evident that they lacked some physical capabilities. In other words, they didn't seem as skilled as Zonic's grade A officers. He also noted that those chaotic force fields Scourge placed on them didn't seem to work against physical attacked if they were shot with one of those cool lasers. That must must have canceled his power out. Actually, he saw more of them on the ground than zone cops.

Dare he say it, they were winning.

After the zone cop lady pointed Scourge in his direction, he couldn't waste this chance. He knew he had to do this now while the idiot was wide open, but first he needed to consult with someone. Seeing five upcoming enemies turn their attention from some unconscious soldiers on the grass, they glared at the hedgehog and began sprinting for him. Damn it, he didn't have time for this right now. He clicked his ear piece with his thumb and called Zonic. "Commander," Sonic addressed quickly. "Scourge is here and-" His eyes widened as he easily dodged any blow or attack his gang was attempting. He could see from afar that Scourge was charging something red in his hand. People who were anywhere near him was backing away in fear, even his own men. "He's about to do something bad...!" He scowled. "I'm going over there."

 _"Excuse you? No way! You could get hurt!"_

"You know just as well as I do that I'm willing to sacrifice myself for you."

 _"...Chaos, why do you have to take it there? This wasn't part of the plan. You're not even staying in character!"_

"Heh," 'Sonic' speedily and stealthily disappeared from their sights. "Everyone will see for themselves our little game of deception, 'commander'." He soon knocked them all out by grabbing different parts of their bodies and draining their energies, or just giving them a good sock to the face to put them to sleep for a few hours. Then, he saw a streak of red and black get closer to Scourge's distance. That was Shadow. He'd get beaten by Scourge, even with the small upgrades. He couldn't let them fight, not yet. "Shadow's getting close, I can't let them engage. I need to protect the both of you." He said as he moved his legs as quick as possible, initiating a sonic boom that blew others away behind him. "Have your powers fully returned yet?"

 _"No, it's too early. I didn't expect for this to fail so soon, ya know."_

"Now you're the one who's completely out of character."

On the other side, 'Zonic' grew impatient and agitated with concern. _"This isn't funny! I don't want you fighting him either!"_

"I'm not going to." 'Sonic' stated calmly. "Just please, trust me. I will be okay." Was all he said before inching closer and closer, feet after feet, yard to yard. He ended up pummeling any asshole in black the whole way, just as a little bonus before colliding with Scourge. From the corner of his eye, Shadow was just a little behind, but was almost as close to Scourge as he was. He realized that Sonic was going to attack, and yelled for him to stop.

"Sonic..!"

This caught Scourge's attention, he turned to his side to see Shadow slowing down. He said Sonic's name, and was looking behind him. With a frown, the green hedgehog was about to turn back around, until something yanked the back of his head to help him do that for him. His blue eyes shrunk and he hollered with both shock and immediate pain. His body, by his head, was yanked backwards forcing him to fall to this knees. He grabbed at the back of his neck, trying to feel for what the hell was pulling at his quills like this. He pulled at the restraint, and it forced him to try and turn to the side to catch a glimpse of his assaulter.

Holy shit, it was Blue. And he was using one of those control gauntlet thingy-majigs. Why the hell was he using that of all things? Couldn't he have just used a chaos-Oh fucking _shit_ , this was hurting! The damn laser that was shot at him was being used like a rope, yanking his spines like a bull's horn. They normally couldn't do that, and he was sure they didn't engineer that into their new upgraded toys. By taking a few glances at the energy of the power depleting laser, it was being corrupted by his own chaos energy from Fleetway. It created a negative effect to it, so the laser's energy mass ended up becoming hooked into his body and driving his pain nerves insane. He gripped the light beam of the rope-like energy, trying to yank it out of himself. Damn it, why the hell did Fleetway's power have to react with nearly everything?

Sonic was gripping his own wrist with his other hand, using it as leverage to help pull the laser's beam towards himself so he could yank Scourge over here. He wouldn't let that bastard get away that easily! He shoved his foot into the ground and roughly retracted his arm backwards. Scourge made a choking sound and lost balance.

Okay, okay okay _okay_ , now he was getting super pissed.

Super, fucking, _pissed._

He was gonna explode, he was gonna get really mad, and everyone would fucking die if his temper didn't die down. With an angry snarl, Scourge use his strength to stand up and hurl himself forward, as if he was performing a headbutt. Red faded from the laser's beam and it ultimately vanished as if he snapped the rope. From that last big pull, Sonic lost the game of tug of war and was yanked several feet closer to the green hedgehog. Smoke puffed from his control gauntlet, signifying that it was destroyed. Great.

While panting and huffing, Scourge slowly turned around to face Sonic with a face that looked far from amused.

Sonic didn't look very cocky or happy either.

They both looked equally furious.

Striking fists shot up and were caught in each other's hands. How funny, isn't this how Sonic and Shadow fought that one time? Ironic, Scourge thought. He could feel that Blue was actually putting up a good fight as they tried shoving each other down in a test of physical strength and endurance. It was probably thanks to those little gloves Zonic gave him. They were making him stronger, but not stronger than him. Nor smarter. Scourge smirked and used his leg to kick the blue hedgehog in the knee. He instantly let go of Scourge's hands and was forced to kneel. The green twin waited for him to get back up to exchange more blows but, he was taking a little too long to recover. He narrowed his eyes at the ground below him, and saw moisture on some of the blades of grass. The hell, was he crying?

"Hmph," He reached down and gripped the top of Sonic's head by his fur, forcing him to look up at his anti-self. Scourge blinked, Sonic wasn't crying, at least not out of both eyes. He was clenching one of them shut while the other just glared at him. Okay, that was weird, but whatever.

"Let him go!" He heard Shadow holler at him. Oh God, not this asshole again for the second time...

No, he'd just ignore him for now, and go back to what he was already doing before he was rudely interrupted. Sonic tried to move, but stopped once he felt that one of his hands was bound. He looked down to see a scarlet red shackle attached to a chain, made entirely of chaos connected to one of Scourge's wrist. The bastard chained himself to him so he couldn't get away. Dark scarlet energy formed in Scourge's palm as he leered. "Listen ya'll," He announced loudly so anyone close enough could hear over the voices and battle cries of warriors and soldiers. "This war is boring as shit, yo! I ain't feelin' it right now, ya dig? So I'm gonna do this..!" He held the hand upwards in the skies, snickering as his power released and flew in all different directions. "Anyone who has a stupid ass Metroid helmet on their head, well," He snapped his fingers. "Say goodbye!"

One by one, every No zone Soldier with their helmets, were deteriorated by dark red chaos energy. It turned every single one of them into ash, and it drifted in the air along with the red mist Scourge's gang shot out earlier. Piece by piece, parts of No Zone property fell to the grass before crumbling into red dust. This was bad, this meant that everyone was now vulnerable to his power. Scourge laughed as he saw their panic stricken faces. That's right, they were no longer safe from his control. Now he-

...Wait a minute, his power was surrounding Sonic's head too.

He didn't tell it to do that. Why was it doing it to _him_? He specifically wanted it to only target people with no zone helmets, so why was he being effected too? "The fuck? I only told it to effect the No zone Assholes, why it is messing with you?" He asked aloud while eyeing Sonic quizzically. Sonic suddenly opened his other tear leaking eye, revealing a darker green eye color. Hey, that wasn't right, It wasn't lime green like the other one.

"That's because..." 'Sonic' whispered.

"Huh? You gotta speak up blue, I can't hear you."

"That's because," 'Sonic' seized Scourge's arm and flipped his palm off of his cranium. " _I'm the commander_ of those No Zone assholes!" He cried before holding back his own arm and swinging it right into Scourge's jaw. His knuckles pressed themselves far into his face, grazing his teeth and bone structure from the outside. The punch was so strong, Scourge fell off of his feet once again and hit the ground by the side of his face. Blood pooled from his teeth that he was now grinding angrily. He saw from his current position from the ground, that the moisture on the grass he saw from earlier wasn't a tear drop, it was a lime green contact lens. As someone who wore them for his poor eye sight, he knew it was that for sure.

Those motherfuckers-

-They tricked him.

The hedgehog everyone thought was the Hero of Mobius prime, digitized his body with a familiar black military uniform. His gold medals placed on his chest, his strict and intimidating expression with cold dark green eyes. He rose his hand to his face and poked his other eye gently with his finger, before flicking the now useless eye contact onto Scourge's body. He wiped his face of unintentional tears and crossed his arms. "Weren't you already told, Ogilvie?" The commander asked while politely bending down to face him closely. "You're playing on _my_ field now, and I will not let you win this time." After he hissed that into his ear, he stood back up and placed his hands behind his back while glancing at his soldiers shocked and surprised faces. Some of them were amused to see their boss get the upper hand against an enemy, just like he always did.

Shadow too was taken by surprise. The entire time, even right before the battle started, it was never Sonic who was by his side, it was Zonic. He couldn't tell the difference because one, they wore contacts to hide their different eye colors, two, they sounded and looked exactly the same, and three, they have the same chaotic wavelengths. At first they were different because Sonic was a virgin before, but he lost his virginity just last night, so now they were exactly identical twins. This meant that Zonic, who was over at the other side of the green field with that medic, was actually his lover who disguised himself in Zonic's uniform. It was an exact copy.

The true commander sucked his teeth and looked to the side. "Though it is quite a shame that I'm now shackled to you, it was a necessary sacrifice. I'd rather be captured by you than to let you kidnap my champion for a second time." He gave him another death glare. "I will never let you touch him, not even if you kill me." He spat as Scourge groaned, struggling to stand back up after a heavy hit like that. "You see, Sonic prime came up with the brilliant idea to play a prank on you. A similar prank you pulled on him twice by taking advantage of your uncanny appearances. Sonic prime knows that you were the sole cause of depleting his power, so he was trying to time it during the battle, hoping that it would recharge by the end of it so he could stop you. But that couldn't happen if you'd constantly be after him." He looked at his own wrist and began to take off his broken control gauntlet. "He knew there'd be a high risk of him being caught by you, so he proposed disguising as each other in order to trick not just you, but everyone else just in case someone would give you red flags. You're very smart, you'd catch on easily if anyone leaked the slightest amount of suspicion."

He watched as Scourge rose back up on his feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm of dark blood. He looked pretty livid, but Zonic couldn't care less. Probably because he couldn't believe someone as intelligent and coy as him would be so easily tricked.

"Sadly," Zonic continued as he tossed the useless equipment away. "Our plan failed rather early since I was caught, but I personally made a back up plan for such a scenario." He pointed to Scourge's mouth while he crossed his other arm over his torso. "Besides hitting you with a rather painful right hook, I also did something you might not take a liking to," He crossed both arms and cocked an eyebrow. "I halted your regeneration ability, which is why you're still bleeding from that garbage fire you call a mouth."

Scourge continued not to say a word, only staring with his icy eyes with an even icier dark expression on his face.

"I can pretty much figure out what you truly plan to do here. You obviously don't care about this fight, as you only instigated it for another purpose. I know you want my life to end today, specifically." He made a small shrug. "You may try, and who knows? You may even succeed, but you won't get very far in your plans with Sonic and Shadow prime in your way."

"Hehehehahahahaaa.." Scourge suddenly cackled. "Honestly Zonic, I don't know what's funnier," He said as he took a few steps to get in front of him. "The fact that you think your dull-ass attitude can intimidate me, or the fact that you think this dampers my plans." He pulled at his own chain of red chaos with an evil smirk. "I _will_ get my hands on Sonic. And I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want to him. And _no one_ is gonna fuckin' stop me. Not you, not Stripes, and especially not him."

The mean bruise Zonic placed onto his face wasn't healing, but he still smirked either way.

* * *

The Mobians cheered on for their friends back in No Zone with exuberance. They yelled can pumped their fists, they screamed into the screen for the soldiers to fight on. When Zonic said they would see the battle through their 'eyes', he meant their helmets. Live footage was being recorded and shown from every No Zone officer's helmets, and the group even had access to watch from any helmet they chose. So from the laptop of the back of the anti-Omega, they could see the battle from start to finish. They saw Sonic, and they saw Shadow. They saw that evil bastard Scourge, and they saw his entourage of evil doers. The No Zone cops were pretty tough, almost as tough as their hero.

They were so happy and excited to see them fight, kicking ass for their zone and their people. The commander was so smart, and he was a just leader. Or at least, that's what they thought until they saw a contact lens fall from Sonic's face. Right after that happened, something red blocked the screen, and the video was offline. Something must have malfunctioned on their side, but what did they just witness before that?

"What the heck?! What happened?" Tails exclaimed at the robot.

"It appears that all of the helmets used to record the war have been destroyed. Their uniforms have also been tampered with by the energy of anti-Sonic's chaotic powers." The droid looked down at the fox and his Mobian friends. "I am sorry, but the feed is gone. You can no longer watch their progress."

"Son of a bitch..!" Knuckles punched the wall beside him, making a hole and a few cracks form. Amy clenched her teeth and grabbed at her hair, while Rouge scowled. Tails paced around the robot, putting a hand on his head as he tried to think. What could they do, what could they do? That was their only form of communication, what if that Zonic guy needed his help? They all were angry and distraught that they could no longer see the battle, but they were even more puzzled as to why their hero was wearing contacts.

Tails struggled to try and put the universal network back into action, but it was no use. With a growl, Tails just huffed sat back with a scowl. Of course this would happen now. Just freaking great. He tapped his fingers on his knee irritably, mentally trying to figure out a way to find another method of surveying the war.

The white bat groaned in annoyance along with everyone else and looked at each other with the begging question, what should they do now? As Knuckles stared at the laptop screen that was currently displaying static, he remembered seeing Scourge's face right before Sonic got close to him with that weird device on his wrist. It made him wonder something, and the thing he worried about only became more relevant to him when he glanced over at Rouge. Since they didn't have anything to do anyway, he figured he could ask her what was on his mind. "Rouge?"

She looked over beside her at the echidna. "Hm?"

"What exactly happened after Scourge turned green? I know you tried stealing my emerald with him, but something went wrong, right?" What happened?" She was bewildered as to how he even knew about that considering she only told Tails, Sonic, Shadow and Amy...Oh, see that last one might have been why he knows. Damn pinkie was a whistle blower. She sighed and turned away. She was surprised he wasn't that angry. Then again, they were now surviving in a world of apocalypse. There was no room for petty anger for past mistakes here.

"I," She began with a pause. "We had gotten into a dispute. About who would take the entire emerald for themselves. I was under the impression the kid just wanted to help me because he wanted to have sex with me-Oh." She forgot there was a child in the room. A few children actually. Tails was listening, but he was still pretty focused. Amy was close since she was huddled with the group in trying to watch the fight previously. They didn't seem bothered by the sudden mention of that, to which the bat was glad for. They were mature kids. "Um," Rouge tried to continue. "Anyway, turns out I was wrong. He didn't want me, he just wanted to use me to have the master emerald for himself. He planned on using it to achieve a super form like Sonic and Shadow, and even kicked me down before running for it. He placed his hand on it and.." She discontinued.

Vanilla could see this was a difficult subject for her, for some reason, so she placed her hand on her shoulder softly. "Take your time, dear."

Oddly enough, Rouge actually felt a genuine sense of serenity when the woman placed her hand on her. What a beautiful aura she had. Maybe being a mother does that to you. She relaxed herself and tried to speak again. "It rejected him. He instantly got, electrocuted or something with that power. He screamed so loud, and he sounded like he was in excruciating pain. I almost felt bad for him, because I knew he regretted it." She could tell Amy and Tails were giving their attention to her completely at this point. She even saw Fiona raise her head a little from the back of the room. "His body was actually fried, and he fainted and fell down. I could see smoke blowing from his fur. For at least ten minutes, he wouldn't wake up. I thought he had died from the shock. So I nudged him with the tip of my heel, and that's when he started coughing. Once he managed to get up and dust himself off, we both realized he had became mutated. But," She bit her lip.

"What?" Amy asked.

"...Look," Rouge looked into Knuckles' purple eyes. "I'm not one to believe in ghosts, spirits or paranormal crap, despite witnessing a number of crazy occurrences happening to us constantly, but I saw something that kind of stuck with me for a really long time." She grabbed Knuckles' fist tightly. "Just, listen to me. All of you, cause I'm not making this up. Not at a time like this." She said with a grounded voice. He could tell with the look in her eyes that she was very sincere. "Right when Scourge got rejected by the emerald, I could see someone else right behind him. They looked just as in pain as he did, maybe even worse. It looked just like him, that person. Once the failed transformation was done, they just...disappeared. Then when Scourge started waking up, I saw that same person again, standing right over his body."

Tails turned to look over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "Was it a ghost?"

The bat shook her head. "I don't even know. All I know is that it looked just like him, when he was blue. But their eyes, were empty and white. Like they were dead. And, I could kinda see through them if I'm remembering correctly."

"Wait a minute," They all turned their heads towards the back of the room where Fiona sat. She seemed a little put off by something. "Scourge used to say he saw someone like that all the time in Moebius, and he only saw it after he turned green. I never saw it though. Besides," She looked away. "He's insane, so he might have been hallucinating. Maybe that's what happened to you since you were near the accident. Chaos power can do some fucked up things."

Rouge twisted her mouth into a frown. She didn't like that answer. She knew for sure she saw that, she couldn't have been imagining it. "..."

"But," Fiona added. "Every time I walked around with him in the castle, I always had the feeling that, _something was off_. Like something _didn't feel right._ " She closed her eyes as she could clearly remember her nights in that cursed castle. She never liked it there, she hated it there. She only went there if Scourge requested her time, and she never volunteered to visit him. But now that she thought about it, maybe she should have. Maybe Scourge was hallucinating that because he was lonely with all that power coursing through him? "Whenever I slept in that damn place, I always felt something cold stand by me. Even when it was blazing hot outside. I always felt like something was watching me. That besides Scourge, something or someone else was there. I could never actually see what was wrong, though. Just Scourge rambling on about seeing some spirit following him around. The castle's a pretty cruddy place to live in so, I just though it was drafts coming through cracks in the walls or something."

Tails poked his finger at his chin. "Sonic once told me he saw ghosts during the whole werehog thing. He never actually fibs about his adventures, even though that whole King Arthur scenario was hard to believe. Aaand there was that one time when I was little in Sandopolis...Sonic and I saw these weird floating things, I had nightmares for weeks." The fox looked back up at his friends with a shrug. "Regardless, maybe it was a ghost." He said this particular at Rouge.

Knuckles just exhaled slowly. "Ghosts. So that's another thing we have to worry about now?"

"Uuughh," Amy scratched both of her hands in her hair. "There's way too much wrong with this guy."

"You don't know the half of it." Fiona mumbled to herself.

Feeling a little more than curious, the orange kitsune decided to try something. "Hey anti-Omega?" He lightly knocked his knuckles on the machine's upper back to get it's attention. "Do you know if the castle in anti-Mobius is haunted or not?" Not that the machine would probably know, but it seemed to have knowledge for a lot of things that it probably shouldn't know.

Then, the machine replied with a response that caught everyone off guard. "Affirmative."

...Ha, okay.

Now this was getting weird. Why did this thing know so much? How did it even know that? _Why_ did it know that? Who the hell was this robot? Rather, who was inside? Tails knew there was something inside of that thing! This thing knew stuff that it shouldn't! They had to be related to Scourge in some way shape or form, and damn it, he was gonna figure out who, even if it killed him! "...Just how much do you know about Moebius?" Tails asked with obvious suspicion.

"More than anyone you've met so far." It responded.

* * *

 _"Attention officers of No Zone, this is your real commander speaking. Unfortunately, I've been apprehended. As ordered before, do not engage directly with anti-Sonic, leave that to Sonic and Shadow prime. Please do not fear for my safety, I will be fine. Keep fighting until there's no one left standing."_ This was a message to anyone with a working transmitter somewhere on their person.

Sonic bit his lip as he heard the transmission. He could barely see in the distance that Scourge and some of his guys were putting Zonic in one of their trucks that came pummeling through the grass. Zone cops tried to take their leader back, but Zonic either commanded them to stop and keep fighting, or to just leave them all be for now and assured them that he'd be safe. Scourge was tempted to kill them all, which was why he ordered them to go away and to just keep fighting. While biting their tongues and gritting their teeth, they angrily had to watch as their leader became captive of that green bastard.

Sonic realized the little act they were playing was over, and there was no sense in keeping up this disguise any longer. Some Zone Cops were attending Zespio's body in one of the hidden bases in the greenfield. The greenfield had taller and longer grass growing away from the coast lines, so that's where they planted some of their bases to hide. They were staring at him with a long silence. Sonic held up his finger towards the black helmet of the fake uniform, and allowed it to digitize off of his body. He made an awkward smile and shrugged while taking a few steps back. "Heh, sorry about that. Keep up the good work, and make sure you aren't caught!"

As he sped off away from the secret base, the No Zone cops glanced at each other with dropped jaws.

He needed to find Shadow, and fast. They couldn't let Scourge keep Zonic, who knew what he'd do to him? Gah, he was gonna be so pissed for tricking him like that, but it had to be done. Well, that's what he would say if the plan had actually worked. On the bright side, Zonic did them a solid and stole that regeneration ability away from their enemy. So at least their attacks would actually matter. The more he ran, the more he could see fallen No Zone soldiers, or people in black passed out on ground. He hated war, he hated war so much. He prayed no one was dead yet, but he couldn't tell. He would try to use _them_ to help him, but he could feel that _they_ weren't connecting with his energy yet. It still wasn't time, and his super form wasn't ready either. And it's not like he could use **that** , it'd just overwhelm him with **their** influence.

Damn it, he didn't know what to do!

No, no, don't panic. Panicking wasn't a thing that he did, rather, a thing he refused to let himself do. Now on the battle ground once again, he calmly took a deep breath and quickly ran to stand behind a now ruined black trucks. He saw that while the zone cops' military vehicles were being untouched or destroyed, he also noticed that Scourge's trucks were relatively in good shape. All of them. Hey, didn't Shadow once teach him how to manipulate objects with chaos control? If Scourge could hack random vehicles and air crafts while using _**their** _ power, why couldn't he? Sonic frowned as he formed blue energy around his hands and arms. He quietly got down on the floor, firmly planting both palms of his hands on the ground.

Blue aura surrounded every single black truck that was parked in the area. This was using up quite a bit of energy, but he could gain it back in no time. Damn, this was kind of hard. He could feel his power infiltrating their mechanical bodies, but he couldn't figure out how to activate them. After all, this wasn't like telekinesis, and he wasn't Silver. Come on, he thought to himself. Sonic was someone who needed to see something once at a quick glance in order to learn it instantly. He's done it plenty of times before, so he should be able to do this!

With sweat developing on his forehead, he clenched his eyes shut as he felt a surge of power erupt through his veins.

A light bulb popped in his head. Ah, he knew what this was! This was **_their_** power! The hacking, the corruption, it was all _their_ language! Sonic didn't know it very well, but he understood enough to be able to use it! Now with a confident smile along with a devious idea in the works, Sonic shoved one of his hands against the side of the truck he was hiding behind. Blue energy took the physical form of something similar to electricity, pulsating throughout all of the mobile machines. A headache was starting to form, but he pushed passed it and allowed his power to activate them.

One by one, engines inside of them roared. They made purrs and rumbles of ignition, headlights flickering on and off. Good thing they lived in a world where nearly everything ran on electricity, including cars. Horns honked, with no one inside of them. Sonic almost laughed in joy, it actually worked! Now all he had to do was charge up a little more. He got on one knee, leaning himself forward with a track runner position while his blue energy was still surrounding his limbs. He was going to do this all at once.

Shadow, who ruefully had to watch Zonic, whom he thought was Sonic, get in that damn truck with Scourge who was now driving away to the coast. He was so flabbergasted and confused and pissed off, he did the only thing he thought would be best: beat the living shit out of anyone wearing stupid black leather clothes.

He was getting a pretty good round up too. He knocked out a few dozen, and he only hoped he didn't accidentally kill someone while curve stomping their damn heads in. Any zone cop who tripped or was beaten down was helped by yours truly, but not before giving them a death glare. Now was not the time to let these assholes get the upper hand. That arrogance shown by that female cop earlier was a result of failure on their part. These morons underestimated their enemy despite the commander's warnings, and that's why some of them were getting their asses handed to them. On top of that, and the fact that Sonic had somehow tricked him the entire time since this war started, Shadow's temper was close to breaking. In fact, he barely even laid his hands or feet on anyone, because he felt that chaos blasting people was just so much more effective.

Just as he tossed away the body of some other poor soul who dared to confront him, he sensed something strange. It wasn't Scourge, because it didn't feel corrupted or evil. It felt pure, and very large.

A sonic boom erupted.

It was no normal phenomenon, however.

The boom was so large, so powerful, that blades of grass for yards shredded into the air. Wind blew with roughness, able to shove anyone down with one forceful breeze. Any object or vehicle that wasn't being controlled was blowing or even flying away. People, both zone cops and gang members were losing their footing. With blinking eyes, Shadow stood still and turned to look behind him. Anyone else who was near him, looked the same way as he did. Some of them dropped their weapons. Some of them dropped their jaws. Some turned to run, because a stampede was coming.

A stampede of black trucks surrounded with blue chaos energy, was charging forth with great speed.

Because of how many there were, they formed one large chaotic force. It was as if they formed one large energy beam, shooting straight at anyone in the battlefield. People yelled or screamed to get away or hide, as Shadow just continued to stand there and watched as the barricade of trucks rushed forward. They were going at supersonic speed, which was impossible for any vehicle unless they were invented by Sonic's little brother or Eggman, which led to one conclusion. The cars flew passed him, just nearly missing him with his fur grazing the side window of one of them. He narrowly fit, right between two of them, that thankfully didn't touch him as they zipped away. In that one second, in slow motion, he could see Sonic riding in the back seat of one of them smiling and waving at Shadow when they zoomed off.

After all the trucks drove away and dived deeper into the field, they ran over Scourge's men. Those trucks were insanely fast, and the zone cops were better equipped when it came to equipment, so they were able to just barely get away or even fly away with their modified shoes. Scourge's army wasn't so lucky, as some of them unfortunately were either hit, or trampled by thick tires. After a while, Sonic hopped out of the back seat while it was still moving and landed on the ground, watching as the trucks he previously took over simply stopped in their tracks. Some even exploded from being hacked with chaos energy.

If Shadow counted correctly, there were more able-bodied zone cops still on their feet than their adversary. This was good, they were getting ahead. A little more and this would be over.

Shadow turned around and began walking, stepping over bodies and dodging any projectiles or weapons that just so happened to aim in his direction.

He needed to have a talk with that blue hedgehog.

* * *

Scourge could see from the camera he hacked from Zonic's airship, that Blue was making quite a mess out there.

Scourge and few of his lackeys were inside one of his black trucks, driving toward the coast and away from the greenfield. Zonic said he ordered for his navy to leave the oceans and to get onto land before any vessels would explode. Funny thing was, Scourge planted the bombs with random time limits, so even he had no idea when they'd go off. Zonic was in the back seat along with him, his hands bound with red aura shaped like handcuffs ironically. His lackeys were up in the front seats, driving for them as Scourge watched from his laptop while chewing a piece of gum. Zonic was surprised he could chew at all with that bruise on his cheek, but he knew very well that the hedgehog probably had a high pain tolerance.

As Scourge watched the fight while leaning back in his seat, one of his men asked a question. Their voice was low and a little quiet, almost as if they were scared to speak.

"..Why aren't you attracted to commander Zonic? I don't get it. He and Sonic look exactly the same, so why not take him instead?" The Moebian asked while looking to the side.

Scourge blew a bubble with boredom, popping it and closing his laptop. " _Becaaaauuuuse_ ," He sarcastically began. "Zonic is the 'foreman' I was talkin' about. Once we get rid of him, _they_ won't be able to operate correctly without _their_ Overseer monitoring _their hosts_." As he said this, the blue No Zone twin narrowed his eyes. So that's what this was about. He knew Scourge only wanted to kill him, but he didn't realize _that_ was the reason why. "He has to be killed. Besides," He glanced over at Zonic who continued to look uninterested just as much as he did. "Step daddy's a real meanie. I mean, that's why I call him that, cause he's so cold. He's not sweet and innocent like my Big Blue." He sneered while chuckling. "Then again with all that anger, he'd probably be great in bed. How 'bout it chief?" He asked. "Think you could take a few rounds with me?"

Oh God, Zonic didn't have time for this nonsense. His mundane tone was begging to be used for sarcasm. After minutes with absolutely no words from the lieutenant general, he finally decided to speak. "...Ogilvie," He knew using his real name put a bad taste in the other's mouth, so he didn't plan on stopping. "I find that very humorous. You could barely handle me as a private in No Zone Prison, and now you think you can handle me in a bedroom. Hysterical." He said as he looked off to the side to look out the tinted windows.

Scourge grinned and began to laugh. "Ooooooh! Well ain't we sassy?" He made a fake gasp. "Oh oh! I got somethin' funny too! Check me out," He stood up out of his seat and stood in front of the commander while leaning forward to get closer to his face. "Look at me! I'm Zonic the Overseer! I'm a walking talking Napoleon complex, because all of my fellow soldiers seem to be several feet taller than me! I like giving people mean looks and act all hard boiled because I used to be, and still am, a _loser_ , who had to sleep with my superior just to get a higher rank in the military! And _because_ I'm such a loser, I like to scowl and grill anybody who dares to even look at me because I'm just so untouchable! So allow me to watch a few more hours of GI Joe so I can jot down some ideas for my mellow dramatic war speeches, and whine about how much I miss my comatose boyfriend who isn't going to wake up anytime soon." The smile on his face was wiped off automatically once he was done, giving him a stare that looked quite serious and anything but comical. "Did I miss anything chief?" He whispered.

Zonic turned and lifted his head to look at Scourge in the eyes. "Would it make you feel better if I said 'no'?"

Scourge's hand shot to his neck, squeezing his palm against his throat. As he began to strangle the high ranking officer, he started to growl. "You know," He hissed. "I've never seen you this sassy before, and I kinda think it's hot," He said as he pressed his thumb on his windpipe. However, Zonic refused to budge, or give him any kind of pained reaction. "But I also kinda don't, cause it's really making me wanna knock your teeth in. And we wouldn't wanna break those beautiful," Scourge took his other hand to gently caress the side of his muzzle, draping his finger across his lips. "...Porcelain cap teeth, now do we?"

"Do whatever you want to me Olgivie." Zonic coughed out.

"Oh like kill you?" He asked as a matter of fact. "'Cause I can definitely fuckin' do that." He asked he squeezed even tighter.

"A-Ah," Zonic was panting at this point. "Y-You...You didn't let me finish," He managed to croak. "You can do whatever you want to me, because I will endure it...I won't die by the hands of you. My allies, wouldn't allow it. I made a promise to Sonic...Prime, and I will see it through. What will you do to me...in the meantime?" He gasped throughout that sentence, still giving him that determined glower.

Suddenly, Scourge let go of his neck, and sat uncomfortably close to the blue hedgehog. As Zonic coughed and heaved for breath, the Moebian crossed his legs and leaned back. "Oh I'm not gonna do a thing to you, chief." He held up his finger and pointed to the closed laptop that was nearby. "What I am going to do, is make you suffer," He moved to grab the laptop, and sat it down on his lap to open it. "By making you watch your men kill each other."

Zonic hacked and tried to steady his breathing before speaking again. "Ugh..We've no casualties. What are you on about?"

"You will soon enough." Scourge cocked a brow and smirked. "Cause I'm about to put a little spell on your soldiers since they don't have their helmets anymore." He winked at him.

With widening eyes, Zonic slowly stared at the screen as red began to drift in the air.

* * *

 **END - 29**

 **In the last chapter 'Sonic' told a female No Zone solider that females were supposed to be wearing special binds or wraps to help keep their breasts from flopping all over the place during combat. But Zonic is the only person who knows the ins and outs about details of soldier uniform protocols, the real Sonic never knew about this at all.**

 **Anyway, yeah. They tricked everyone into looking like each other, even faking their personalities to get by.**

 **There's a lot of italicized and bold words in this chapter, hinting to a lot of hidden stuff. Read between the lines to try and figure it out.**

 **Also, be prepared. Things are gonna get a bit crazy from here on out.**

 **(And sorry for taking so long to update. Thank you for the constant support, you all are amazing people.)**


	34. Waterboard

**30 - Waterboard**

* * *

"You see, when I made all your helmets crumble up into ash," Scourge poked his own head as a gesture. "I put a little spell on you guys thanks to that red mist. It infected anyone wearing one, including you." He said while looking over at Zonic, who was glowering with an angry but worried look in his eyes. Yes, that's what he wanted to see. "I activated that spell, to make all your soldiers think they're fighting my guys, when in reality, they're fighting each other. Killing each other." The expression on his evil mug basically was asking 'does that sound familiar?' He was referring to the massacre that happened in Sonic's world, it was about to happen all over again. The very thing they tried to prevent was about to happen. "I made them all turn crazy, and pick up those guns. I made them use 'em, to commit beautiful acts of mass genocide."

No.

No.

No no no _no no no..._

NO.

 _NO!_

He would never let that happen! Over his God damn dead body! No way in hell, never in a trillion years would he sit by and let that happen! Zonic became stiff, and he looked as if he wanted to say something. Scourge loved that horrified look on his face, it was almost attractive. For a second, Scourge looked away to glance at the computer screen. Then, Zonic slowly moved his wrists to bring his cuffed arms up. His fingers reached to the collar of his military uniform, inching closer to the hidden button that was always installed into any soldier's official attire. All he had to do was press it and call Sonic prime, he could warn him before it was too late-

"Don't try to inform your soldiers, I'll just kill you if you do that, okay?" Scourge said nonchalantly as he spit the gum out in his hand and rolled it up in a ball between his fingers. He tilted his head and faced Zonic. Even though his expression looked calm, his eyes were so terrifying. They were shrunk, and his face was shadowed by his own evil intentions. His fingers that were holding the laptop, were starting to crush into it's surface. " _I'm serious,_ okay?" He said with a nice voice, clashing with his dangerous and odious facial expression. "I will _actually_ kill you if you do that. I will hurt you. I will do the things that I want to do to Sonic, to you. Trust me, you really don't want that."

Were...Were his eyes becoming inverted? Why was one turning black and red? As if he knew what he was thinking about, Scourge closed that eye shut and rubbed the back of his head while making a pained groan. Was he himself becoming corrupted or something?

No, Zhadow taught him better than this. He taught him to never be intimidated by any enemy. No matter how big, strong, or horrifying they may be. So with a scowl, Zonic took this chance to reach up and grab his collar anyway. Pressing his finger and thumb into the collar transmitter, he alerted Sonic as fast and loudly as he could. "Sonic prime!" He cried. Scourge snarled and dropped his laptop. "Sonic prime, Scourge is going to try and hypnotize my men! Stop this at all costs! The red mist is-! Argh..!" He was shoved down onto his back with his hands pinned above his head. His throat was then gripped by both hands this time, closing into his neck to strangle him once more. Zonic inhaled sharply, his legs shuddering and starting to thrash. "...!" He struggled to move and get out of his hold, but Scourge was physically superior as of now thanks to these damn cuffs.

Scourge was enraged. Zonic disobeyed him, and he didn't like that. Both eyes were turning black, while his irises became bright red with a swirl. Red and black energy was beginning to surround the car's interior, and the lackeys up front made grunts before passing out. The car immediately stopped. Scourge's now demonic expression would forever haunt his dreams from here on out. His fur was fading from it's green color, and it was becoming...purple? His quills began to raise upwards. His voice became warped, one that couldn't have been this own. It was as if someone was talking along with him, something that was neither Moebian or Mobian. Something that wasn't of any world or reality.

" _ **You motherfucker!**_ " He shouted. " _ **You really want me to kill you right here? Right now!? Or would you rather me make myself look like your comatose boyfriend, and rape you right in this fucking car seat instead!? I will make your life a living fucking hell, don't you dare disobey me!**_ "

Zonic could honestly admit to himself, that he was actually scared.

" _ **You pompous fuck, I will END YOU!**_ " He screeched as blood dripped from the side of Zonic's neck. His nails were puncturing his uniform, his fur and his skin. Zonic couldn't even cough or making choke noises anymore, he could only just sit there and feel numb. He couldn't move his body, and he was starting to lose consciousness. Just before darkness could take over his vision, Scourge reverted back to normal. His fur became green, his eyes were white and his irises were blue. His quills relaxed and so did his grip. He looked bored again, with eyes that still seemed rather, insane. "Oh, you're about to pass out. Sorry about that." He let go and wiped the blood off on the black leather seats. "You alright?" He asked.

"..." Zonic couldn't speak anymore. When Scourge turned into, that _**thing**_ , he had already placed Zonic into an illusion. So now, he'd be stuck in his own nightmare for the time being. He fainted right in his truck, his eyes still open. Almost as if he was dead.

Scourge just scoffed and looked out the window. They were on the beach now, the boats were just a little farther ahead. The sun was shining brightly over here, but it was so dark over at the battle area. How fascinating.

It was actually a gorgeous day. Too bad no one could enjoy it-

"I-I see them sir! They're in the truck over here!"

Wait what?

"Aw shit..." Scourge mumbled.

* * *

After his ingenious idea to attack with a barrage of full speed charging trucks ended successfully, Sonic smiled as they just drove away into the distance. That cleared out a lot of assholes, so that was a plus. Okay, now where was Shadow? Sonic didn't move from his position, he only stayed in the same place while moving his head around to look. All he saw was unconscious bodies and people fighting. He hoped he didn't end up hitting him with the trucks. No, Shadow was more clever than that. He would have just chaos controlled out of the way.

When a green flash appeared behind him, Sonic was quick on his feet. He readied himself to attack, until he turned and realized it was the person he was looking for. "S-Shadow..!" He nearly smiled if it wasn't for the expression on his face. Why did he look kinda of pissed? "Uhh, what's up?"

"You and the commander switched places?" The black and red striped hedgehog asked heavily while moving to the side to dodge a stray projectile. Geez, was that a shard of metal? The hell were they throwing stuff like that around for? This may have been war, but that was a bit unorthodox. "Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.

" _Because,_ " Sonic dragged out. "He didn't want anyone to make it obvious that they knew. Scourge is smart, he'd know if something was up. He wanted no one to be aware so there'd be absolutely no chance of suspicion." The hero scratched behind his quills. "We had to pretend to be each other, fake our personalities and what not. I memorized his speech right before we left the HQ since I kind of suggested it last minute."

 _Sonic laughed at both of their reactions. "When he introduced himself to me the first time we met, he was like this." The hero cleared his throat and made the blankest, most mundane expression he could muster. "'Hello Sonic prime, pleased to meet you. I am elite officer Zonic, I hope you feel welcomed here in No Zone.'" Throughout that sentence, he made sure his voice was as monotonous as possible._

That's right, Sonic was an excellent impersonator and could easily mimic the commander's personality and voice.

Just now, he was talking about when Sonic interrupted Warden Zobotnik by whispering to Zonic during their last meeting in the boardroom. He was giving him his idea of this plan then, and that's why they didn't leave HQ together. Meaning, the Zonic that made that speech in the helicopter, was actually Sonic talking. This also meant that Sonic was the one giving commands and giving orders, like a real commander. No wonder the real Zonic who disguised as his lover, barely spoke. He didn't want to give anything away, probably in fear of messing up Sonic's personality. Thankfully the situation was dire and serious, so it matched his normal mundane attitude. He wouldn't have had to force Sonic's personality that much at all, given the desperate scenario. As impressive as this ruse was, it didn't last.

Shadow just frowned and glanced to the side, where Scourge's truck previously drove off from. "What were you planning to do exactly?"

"Well, I was trying to buy us some time to have our powers recharge. I knew Scourge would some how get his hands on me eventually, so we swapped places just in case. The plan was for Zonic to pose as me for a while until I gave him the okay that everything was ready." Sonic clenched his teeth with frustration. "But, it failed. He tried to stop Scourge before he could pull anything, so he sacrificed himself." He looked towards Shadow. "Sorry for tricking you like that."

"If I had known about this, I could have...Just," The ebony hedgehog sighed quickly. "Stay by me, and don't separate from me again." He faced him with a determined expression. "We're doing this together. Understand?"

Sonic nodded with half of a smile. "Right." He looked off in the distance towards the large crowds of people fighting senselessly. "You wanna chaos blast this?"

"We'd end up hurting the commander's men as well."

"Yeah you're right," Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Maybe we could-Huh?" He heard static in his ear. It flicked with irritation at the sound, until he reached up and adjusted it accordingly. Was someone trying to contact him? It couldn't have been Zonic, he was just captured.

 _"Sonic prime!"_ He heard his twin scream. With widened eyes, Sonic listened closely.

"Z? Is that you!?" Sonic worriedly replied back. Shadow rose his head at that. "What's going-"

 _"Sonic prime, Scourge is going to try and hypnotize my men! Stop this at all costs! The red mist is-! Ah..!"_

 _"You motherfucker-!"_ That was another angry voice yelling in the background. Scuffling and shuffles were heard, along with a pained grunt and more angry shouting. The transmission ended abruptly. The voice sounded distorted though, and Sonic couldn't tell if that was the poor connection or something even worse. That was definitely Scourge's voice. Damn it, what did he do to him!? Sonic could feel his anger rise, but he once again forced his inner demon to pacify itself this instant. He refused to make a fool out of himself right now. He just angrily cursed under his breath and looked towards Shadow. He was about to tell his partner what just happened, until he saw red in the corner of his eye.

A red mist-like gas was rising in the air.

Wasn't that the stuff Scourge's gang shot earlier?

"Shadow, we gotta get rid of that stuff!"

"I overheard. We may not be able to chaos blast through the field, but I've got a better idea that just might work." The dark hedgehog could sense that while Sonic had darkness inside of him, there was also a power of divine purity. If they could channel that correctly..."I'm going to show you something. Give me your hand." He stepped behind the hero and grasped his right wrist. As the red mist rose, the hedgehogs could see that it was starting to travel to anyone who was fighting. That wasn't good, it had already spread pretty far. "Open your palm." He instructed. Sonic did as he was told with curious eyes, opening his hand towards the sky. "I need you to focus your energy, and push away any negativity you have brewing inside of you. I can feel it, you're still pissed, but you're trying to keep it down. I need you to get rid of it completely, even if it's just for a few seconds."

"H-Huh? Why?"

"This won't work unless you do it, just trust me. That negativity might bring out a less than desirable result." He could see from the corner of his eye that others were coming towards them to try and stop them from doing whatever they were planning to do. "And hurry, or else we'll be interrupted."

"Okay," Sonic closed his eyes, trying to concentrate and voiding off his negative emotions. He tried thinking about anything positive, while taking energy from the chaos emeralds he had hidden away in chaos control. He thought of his love for Shadow and his friends, burning away any anger or darkness he had developing in his mind. Blue energy formed around his fingers, just as Shadow said.

"Now," Shadow's own red energy surrounded his hand, and fused with Sonic's. "Chaos Vacuum."

"Chaos what- _Woah!_ "

Strong winds blew against the ground, pushing back destroyed debris of cars or weapons. People lost their balance, tripping over their own feet as they nearly flew into the air. More blades of grass twisted away into the atmosphere, until it all flew in one direction. That current twirled, and circled into that of a miniature tornado. It sucked in anything that came across it, with blue and red aura powering it. The evil red mist that floated in the air, was now being sucked inside of their palms, disposing of the scarlet energy from the skies. This was almost really pretty, if it wasn't for the situation at hand. The fusing of their energies together, it sparkled and glimmered with power. It was as if it was purifying the evil energy from above and gassing it out. Not only that, but they were gaining some power back, purifying the evil energy and taking it for themselves to use.

Once it was all cleared out, Shadow let go of his hand. They did it, they prevented that scum from mind controlling anyone else. Sonic was going to smile, until he felt a slight burning sensation on his eyes and even on his temple. He blinked a few times, and shook his head. Finally, his eyes could see the world for what it really was. He remembered how there were more of Scourge's men on the ground than No Zone soldiers, and that's when he felt his heart sink. With his throat drying up in fear, he slowly looked down to the ground of the now mostly barren plains.

...There were dead No Zone soldiers, and dead followers of Scourge.

No, no that wasn't right. No one was supposed to kill anyone! Even Scourge's men merely knocked out whoever they were up against. No one had died yet, there wasn't a body count! Sonic was going to gasp, but it got painfully caught in his throat. His eyes shook, he realized both he and Shadow were far too late. Some of them had their brains blown out, some of them were decapitated. Some were stabbed and shanked, some were still alive but with their limbs broken and utterly destroyed. As Sonic took a step back, his sneaker squished on a small pile that was red and pink. He didn't dare look down to see what it was. Shadow's mouth fell agape, and he looked across the battlefield. There a lot less moving-bodies than before.

When Scourge blew up the helmets, they were all vulnerable to illusions. The soldiers' helmets were just blown up not too long ago, how did they kill so many in such a short time!? And why couldn't they see that they were killing each other until now? Shadow put his hand up to his earpiece, and tried to touch it, but it disintegrated into small pieces instantly. Sonic's did the same, and they both glanced at each other with shrunken eyes. They had both been vulnerable to his illusions as well, they themselves could have hurt some of the soldiers too. Now more of Scourge's men were alive, currently trying to kill the surviving No Zone forces. They used guns, rocks, anything they could get their hands on in the environment. Zonic swore to himself that he'd never lose a soldier, and now look what's happened. So many people were dead. Blood was caking the now shriveled up and dead blades of grass.

He failed his friend.

The others who were fighting, they all soon realized the travesty that just occurred. One person who was holding up a gun, who also didn't realize they picked it up to begin with, just finished shooting up a fellow No Zone soldier. They immediately dropped the weapon, and fell to their knees while screaming. Another solider had just hacked one of Scourge's men to pieces, and it was a woman. They felt sick to their stomach, lurched over and puke. More and more No Zone soldiers were realizing that they were hurting and killing their own people, or massacring others. They may have been an army, but they didn't kill. Scourge's men, who were brainwashed, didn't even mind. Not even if they killed their own fellow members. They just continued to kill and wreak havoc. Sonic wanted to call Zonic, and apologize for his failure, but he couldn't even do that. He was speechless. They broke everyone out of their hallucinations sure, but at what cost?

And...

Shadow's made a sound of shock and horror. Some of Scourge's men were, killing themselves. They were holding guns up to their heads, blasting their heads off. No Zone soldiers who saw this were so frightened by this, that they either ran away to their hidden base or stood frozen in fear. Sonic couldn't watch anymore, he just turned away while covering his mouth. Shadow wanted to yell 'Stop!' but what good would that do? They were so brainwashed by Scourge, they were willingly committing suicide, all just to lower morality and scare the living soul out of No Zone officers. If he counted correctly, Shadow could conclude that there was more than half of Scourge's men still alive. And only three thousand of Zonic's officers were still alive. Shadow has witnessed these kinds of atrocities before, but he was sure Sonic didn't.

Speaking of which-

He turned to his partner, only to see his face darkened. He could feel that darkness from before growing inside of him. No, he couldn't lose him right now, he had to wake up and get his act together. Now wasn't the time to feel sorry or grieve for anyone, not yet. Shadow gripped his shoulders and turned him around forcefully. "Wake up!" He yelled. "Stop worrying about them!"

His words did what they intended to do and did indeed wake him up, but he received a very negative reaction. " _Excuse_ you..!?" Sonic roughly whispered. "Don't worry!? They're all dead, Shadow!"

" _It's war_ , you idiot. That's what happens in a war, people die!" He squeezed his hands tighter, painfully gripping him.

"No shit, but don't tell me not to worry! I don't want to see anyone die! I'm supposed to help and save them!"

The ultimate life form growled angrily. "Then why did you even join this fight!?" Not getting an immediate response from a now silent Sonic, he continued. "You need to stop playing hero for everyone. You're a fool if you think you can preserve the lives of everyone even remotely involved in this battle." He saw that the blue one looked even more offended, but he didn't stop ranting. "This isn't some small fight against robots, this is a war between living breathing people. People get hurt, people become permanently scarred for life, and sometimes they die. You need to accept the fact that just because you're a hero, doesn't mean you can save everybody!" He let go of Sonic and furrowed his brows. Once again, he couldn't really see Sonic's face, as it was darkened with unreadable emotions. That darkness he sensed from before was growing even bigger. Shadow almost didn't care though. He couldn't let Sonic get distracted with this fantasy of being a perfect hero. "You need to grow the hell up so you can fully comprehend the concept of loss and death. The more you give into that goody-two-shoes side of yours, the more you'll be disappointed with reality." The universe is a harsh, cruel place. He needs to get that.

"..." The hero, didn't bother to speak anymore than that. He continued to be silent, his eyes nor expression visible to Shadow. He didn't even move. Shadow wondered if he was even breathing. The black and red striped hedgehog genuinely hoped deep down that he didn't hurt his feelings, but now wasn't a time to argue either. They were wasting time, they had to stop this. He tried reaching out to him to get his attention.

"Sonic-"

A loud voice hollered across the plains. "Everyone get down if you don't wanna get blasted!"

"..?!" Both hedgehogs lifted their heads from each other at the voice, and saw from afar that a small group of Zone Cop police cars were speeding throughout the field. Zector was standing on top of one of them, the car in front, holding and aiming a large weapon that looked similar to a rocket launcher.

"Anyone who's still alive and listening, get Colonel Zespio! This is far from over!" The crocodile activated the huge weapon, shooting a thick rocket onto the ground in random areas. When the rockets landed and exposed, green smoke emitted. Anyone who could catch the crocodile quick enough as he zoomed passed, was wiping tears from his face angrily. "I'm not gonna let anyone else commit murder! You're all getting knocked out with the Riot Launcher, whether you're our men or not!" He cried. "I refuse to let my friends kill each other anymore! Stand the hell down!" He raised his fist in the air, and others rose up and hopped on the roofs of their cars as well. They were all arriving and aiming with the same weapon, tearfully shooting rockets filled with a chemical in gaseous form to neutralize all fighters of the battle, regardless if they were friend or foe.

Was that, really Zector? The silly No Zone officer that worked for Zonic as a simple assistant? The guy who was the captain of their Navy? The goofy croc who always had a great sense of humor, who always found the brighter side to things, cracking jokes and lazing around paperwork? He didn't look just furious, he looked determined and stubborn. His voice sounded like he was willing to give up anything to stop this war from continuing any further. More and more No Zone soldiers were getting overwhelmed by Scourge's bandits. The number of officers was decreasing more and more. Zonic had thousands of soldiers, who were getting either killed or rendered unconscious. Numbers truly didn't matter, because Scourge's men were destroying them. But soon, it wouldn't matter. Soon everyone would be knocked-out here.

Both hedgehogs got down and covered their mouths and noses as the police cars drove right above them, bolting yards away. More explosions were heard, and the gas spread near them. They saw white masks falling down towards them in the air. The cops must have dropped them off for them. Shadow and Sonic quickly got up and grabbed them, pulling and tying them over their face and behind their heads. They needed to find Zonic and Scourge, and fast. Scourge was last seen driving down the plains towards the beach, they could run over there no problem.

Without even having to confirm this with each other, they made sonic booms in the beach's direction.

* * *

Scourge huffed as he adjusted to the weight of the other hedgehog laying unconscious on his back. That damn croc almost took him away with that stupid gas as a distraction. Good thing he threatened to kill him, it scared his little posse of navy seals off into the battle. The crocodile cursed and swore they'd get their oh so precious commander back, but they shouldn't count on it. They just came from outta no where. He almost forgot they were waiting on the coast to strike. They must have left after being told their boats were rigged to blow. Oh well. Scourge was carrying Zonic on his back, standing by one of his trucks as he watched the fight from far, far away. He smirked. His men were killing each other, and have been killing each other for several minutes now. He could tell the majority of his own army was still fighting.

Oh? And what's this? A blue streak? Speeding by? That's too fast, for the naked eye?

Why, he just found his beloved Sonic.

A pair of blue and black streaks were speeding towards his group of trucks. No doubt his blue lover and the fake-ass semi immortal wannabe asshole. They probably wanna fight him again, which he didn't mind at all. He anticipated they'd return, so no biggie. He had an idea for that anyway. He looked to his crew, who already knew what to do once the duo arrived. They thankfully woke up after Scourge's terrifying display in the car earlier, ready to tale orders. He bid them adu by saluting and speeding off towards the navy ships ahead.

Seeing that green streak rush to the boats, Sonic clenched his teeth. He was already pissed off, but running away? Now he was really angry. The hero boosted himself to speed on ahead, surprising Shadow. He quickly matched his movements and followed suit towards the coast, getting closer to his band of trucks parked on the coast. They had to skid to a stop once they started aiming weapons at them. The gas here wasn't as heavy, and the thugs in black were wearing black scarfs that were tied around their faces. Zector must have tried to apprehend them, but was probably daunted by Scourge. Sonic scowled and got ready, as did Shadow.

Before they could even pull a trigger, Sonic went in headfirst. Already using his unnatural speed to dart by them, he zipped around them like an annoying bee to snatch and grabbed all their weapons from their hands. There was a dozen of these assholes, and he was now carrying twelve types of guns. How interesting was it that they all each had a different type of firearm? Sonic carelessly threw them all away on the sandy ground, and watched as a chaos beam shot though and destroyed the killing machines right beside him. From behind, Shadow blasted them all into dust. The hero then moved in along with the ebony hedgehog to fight.

Sonic charged in and swung a right hook into a Moebian's face. He wasn't holding much back like usual, as he planned on really hurting his enemy this time around. The Moebian dog spat out blood while falling on his back. Shadow countered two Moebians at once, kicking one in the chest from behind and punching the other directly in the stomach. Another Moebian, an angler with razor sharp teeth-Wait, Scourge had aquatic Moebians too? Huh, go figure. The said Moebian was grabbing at Sonic, trying to bite at him. He dodged swiftly and gracefully, then waited for the right moment to throw out his hand to seize his face. Gripping his gloved fingers tightly on his mouth, he shoved him away and round house kicked him in the head. He heard more footsteps from another direction, making his blue ear twitch. More was coming. As they began to surround and crowd the two hedgehogs, they got together, standing back to back. Blue aura engulfed Sonic's form, and red chaos energy flowed onto Shadow's arms. Again, the two didn't even need to talk out a plan. They already knew what they had to do. Shadow would take the ones on the left, and Sonic would take the ones on the right.

They both got down on one knee, and charged up. The members of Scourge's gang that were coming closer, halted to a stop. Intimidated by the power glowing all over their bodies. Simultaneously, they shot off at once, sprinting full speed to plow through anyone and anything in their way. Sonic booms went off at the same time, stronger than before, causing an air wave to rumble and tremble the world from below. Just like the trucks Sonic used as a stampeded from earlier, they trampled and blasted away the thugs in black, sending them flying miles away. Some unfortunate ones landed in the oceans. Once they were all cleared out, the two hedgehogs stopped, then made a bee-line for the ships in the seas. Once their shoes touched the salty waters of the ocean, they used their chaos energy as a boost to jump from the sand high up into the air, and land down on the captain's ship. The captain's ship was in the very front of the fleet, so it was the closest to the coast. The blue and black duo landed on the wooden floors and ran forward to get inside from the deck.

The ultimate life form pulled down his mask. "I can feel that bastard's energy, stay by me!" Shadow exclaimed as he took the lead and rushed off, traveling deeper inside of the large ship and passing through huge mechanisms and parts, until they reached one of the ward rooms. They had traveled through the boiler room, and up through the engine room. Shadow felt Scourge's energy here in this ward room, he had to be here. The partners found that the room was far too quiet, and listened closely for anything strange. They were in a very dangerous area, as the boats were planted with bombs that could go off at any second. They needed to find Zonic quickly and get out of here. They had to fight Scourge away from this area so no one would die. Keeping this in mind, Shadow was surprised Sonic wasn't uncomfortable with this. After all, they were technically on the water. He despised big bodies of water, and trembled at the thought of an ocean. He figured since his twin's life was on the line, he pushed his fears away. He was good at hiding his emotions, so perhaps he was actually truly terrified or sick right now.

Out of the darkness from the corner of the room, Scourge stepped into the light, which was just a swinging ceiling lamp. "Well lookie what we have here," He leered. "My soon to be lawfully wedded blue wife, and," He looked very disappointed the second he laid eyes on Shadow. "...The semi-immortal wannabe bitch." He then smiled and pointed to the body laying over his shoulder. "Lookin' for this?" He poked an unconscious Zonic's arm. Sonic growled, and Shadow crackled his knuckles in his balled up fists. "You want him? Hm~?" He asked sweetly. "Huuuuh?"

"Just let him go, you asshole!" Sonic yelled. After he finished his insult, something erupted inside of the ship. The entire vessel started shaking. At first, it was just silence, then it occurred more than once and a loud noise became stronger with time. Was that the boilers of the ship!? They all nearly lost balance, but Scourge was still smirking, holding onto the body on his shoulder with one hand. Sonic's eyes widened when he realized what was happening. "The explosions..! They're going off!" He darted his gaze at Shadow.

"Damn it," He hissed. "Give up the commander right now, Scourge!"

Another explosion went off right next to the green hedgehog. He was pushed back into the wall, and he held onto it to keep balance. Shadow and Sonic were forced to kneel and hold onto the floor that now had a huge hole in it. The side of the ship was now destroyed, and the ward room was little to nothing. They could see the sky and the ocean right next to them, smoke and fire spreading with orange embers. "You want him?" Scourge asked again. "Then go get him!" He yelled as he turned and swung the lieutenant general's body out of the gaping smoking hole of the ship. He threw him overboard and his body descended hundreds of feet below. Sonic had to watch as his twin was nearing the surface of the water.

He was going to drown, he was going to drown and die.

 _But the water, the water was-_

He felt Shadow grip his shoulder. "Faker, you keep him busy. I'll retrieve the commander!" He then ran to the edge of the hole on the side of the ship and jumped to dive down. He again, could only stare as his partner disappeared below. He could hear Scourge laugh as the ship continued to rock and tremor from side to side. Fight him? With _that_ power? He could try to hold him off until Shadow got back but, this was Scourge we were talking about. He could pull something crazy at any second.

N-Not to mention...He silently gulped as he saw the long drop down into the abyss of a slow, lengthy and painful watery grave. Chaos, why did they have to fight here? Why? Why? What if he tripped and fell in? What if Scourge pushed him in?

...No, he couldn't be afraid or worried. He had to do it so Shadow could save his friend. Besides, Scourge could no longer regenerate, so maybe he had a chance.

"Hahahaha! You should have saw the look on your faces! You was like-" Scourge opened his mouth wide, as if he was a gasping fish. "Huh?! Hmm!? Hahaha!" He held his sides while nearly losing balance from the rocking sea vessel. "But now since it's just the two of us.." Scourge trailed off with an evil smile. "Think fast!" He yelled as he threw himself at the hero. He balled his fist and retracted it backwards, before shoving it deep into Sonic's stomach. The blue hedgehog gasped a strong inhale, and hunched back as he instantly puked. The punch was not only strong enough to send him flying backward, but it also made him lose his lunch. Not only was he already sea sick from the boat, but Scourge attacking his insides didn't really help.

The ship was beginning to fall forward, the entire perimeter of the room turning from diagonal to vertically upside down, and letting gravity take its toll. Crates and boxes slid down before toppling over and falling as well. Sonic fell through the metallic walls of the vessel, making holes shaped in his body frame as Scourge followed suit and continued to punch various parts of his form the entire fall. His movements were so fast, Sonic could only take the hits as he fell.

Getting literally sick of being clocked in the chest and face over and over, Sonic suddenly swung his arm into his anti-self's face. Elbowing him in the jaw and forcing him to move slightly backwards. The ship thankfully moved and tipped a little backwards, evening out the gravity so that they weren't just falling on one side anymore. They both landed at the same time, before looking up to glare at each other. Scourge smiled while Sonic wiped his mouth of vomit. They then quickly stepped forward to clash, throwing punches and hits towards one another. Sonic knew he had to step up and force his body to move just a little quicker than normal in order to keep up with his anti-double. They both attacked each other with the same movements, almost mirroring each other. Neither of them made contact with a hit, making them almost evenly matched. They kept dodging and moving, all while keeping balance to try and move to punch or kick each other. Finally, Scourge's fist swiped near the side of Sonic's face. The hero did the same, both hedgehogs missing their intended target once again.

They threw up their hands and gripped each other's wrists or fists, turning the fight into an endurance competition. Trying to push each other back, and even head butting their foreheads against each other's just to glower even closer into their eyes. The green hedgehog began to smirk, feeling that Sonic was stronger than normal, probably from those gauntlets Zonic let him borrow. The green menace chuckled. "I can feel your anger, Blue." He grunted as he felt the other push back a little harder, but not hard enough to throw him off. "You're losing it. No matter what, you just can't control it. It's like I told you all those years ago baby, ' _all you need is one bad day'_ ," He crunched his finger's into Sonic's gloves. "' _And you end up just like me!'_ "

"Shut up!"

"Sonic," Using his real name made the hero flinch. "I'm gonna give you one more chance to hear me out so you can understand."

There was no sense in trying to negotiate with Sonic right now, his dark influence was overpowering his mood. Right now, he didn't care for anything else. He just wanted to beat Scourge. "Understand what!? There's nothing to understand! You're a killer and a monster!"

Scourge sighed with a groan. "You still won't listen-"

Sonic pulled his leg upwards to knee Scourge directly in the gut, as payback for earlier. "I said _shut up!_ " He shouted, Scourge buckling his knees, letting go of Sonic and falling backwards from the hit. He landed on the floor with his hand, catching himself from another clumsy fall. Then, a dark flash of red and black, and he was gone. Sonic realized too little too late that he just chaos controlled, as he felt a hard kick in the back take him down. The hero tried getting back up immediately, but he was met with Scourge staring down at him with malicious glee. He pointed his finger towards him, directly at his face as the anti-hedgehog's eyes turned red. Sonic tried looking away and closing his eyes, but Scourge just laughed at him for this.

"Dumb ass, you don't need to look at me so I can hypnotize you." He cackled. "All _I_ need to do is look at _you!_ "

"What..!?"

"So get ready Blue," He said with a smug expression as his red eyes warped into red swirls. "To turn into Dark Sonic!"

* * *

 **END - 30**

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 **Thank you for continuing to show support through my absence.**


	35. The Dark One Returns

**31 - The Dark One Returns**

* * *

Zone cops wearing special uniforms of medical or tool-like insignias stamped on their back, were rushing into the battlefield through the city with cars and mimitate trucks loaded with equipment, medicine and tools. They were notified by Colonel Zector to grab as many doctors and engineers as they could spare, and get to the war zone. They spread out in even groups, and were careful not to be seen or spotted. One group rushed to the base, while the other went to the battle field to tend to soldiers or take bodies away. Some cops were carrying barricades, so they could shield themselves while they tended to those who were wounded. Around one hundred doctors and engineers showed up, and went right to work.

Around the same time Zector showed up on the field, Colonel Zespio finally woke up from the explosion of his jet in the base. He saw absolute chaos and havoc around his 'bed' that was comprised of lumps of pillows or sheets. Nurses were running amok, running in and out with bodies or...limbs. Zespio blinked in terror. Men were lost? That's never really happened before. Not for a long time. He could hear from inside the small outpost, that Zector was yelling and shouting orders. The commotion was even louder outside. How much did he miss? Wasn't Commamder Zonic here a second ago? Didn't he tell Zector to wait in the waters until further notice?

He tried getting up, but a male nurse just so happened to walk over and push him back down. They asked several questions: Are you okay? Are you in any pain? Can you see clearly? Can you hear my voice clearly? Do any of your limbs feel numb? Are your vocal cords shot? Is your pulse beating at an appropriate rate? Do you taste blood in your mouth? Zespio replied 'no' to all of these questions, saying he actually felt great. The nurse pointed out that right before the commander saved him, the explosion did some damage to his cranium. They did the best they could to heal him, but apparently they did a rather good job since he felt okay. He wasn't even bleeding anymore, and there were no signs of a concussion. Both he and the nurse assumed he was just lucky. Even more lucky that the commander was there to rescue him.

The nurse then put him up to speed with what was currently happening since get he was knocked out. Apparently, the Commander was actually Sonic Prime in disguise, and the fake Sonic Prime was actually the commander the whole time. They had a plan to trick Scourge to avoid Sonic Prime being captured, but it failed rather early in order to stop him from pulling another trick. The commander was then kidnapped and taken as a hostage, driving away in a truck near the shore. Sonic Prime And Shadow Prime went after him, while Colonel Zector for some reason came back to the battle field with assistance. Unfortunately, Scourge had pulled another clever, but nasty trick on them all. Not only did he destroy their helmets, but he hypnotized everyone into thinking they were mercifully fighting the enemy, while in reality, they were actually killing their own men.

They lost hundreds of soldiers already.

They had lost...So many, in such a short amount of time. It's, it's only been some hours since the war started, how- _Why..._ Zespio was distraught to say the least. And he felt like he failed his lieutenant general. If he hadn't foolishly stayed in that plane, or if he had noticed the aircrafts were rigged with bombs ahead of time, he wouldn't have been knocked out. He would have been useful. Well no more. Absolutely no more of this bloodshed! He refused to let anyone else die! Both the commander and Zepsio were the only ones allowed to make the order to launch the missiles from HQ, their giant building sized weapon. If they want to play with fire, he'll happily supply the gasoline. The chameleon ordered for the nurse to allow him to get up out of bed. He stood straight up without trouble, and ordered for everyone to get as many soldiers as they could and do the best they can to heal them all. He declared that he'd head out to join back in the battle, and help Zector end it on their leader's behalf.

Zespio fixed up his uniform, ripped off the bandage from his horned head and marched outside the base.

Once he walked out, he was given a new helmet. One that couldn't be easily manipulated, or destroyed from exposure to that strange power. He was curious as to how they managed to create the helmets in such a short amount of time with the modifications, but the engineers giving out helmets explained that Warden Zobotnik miraculously woke up and angrily started to edit spare supplies of helmets once he was told what happened in the battle field. Nearly anyone who was still alive was given a new helmet. They gave him a gun, mentioning that being merciful wouldn't work out too well anymore. They said while Zonic would hate that they took the lives of others, they said Zector ordered for people to merely shoot a limb or two in order to stop their enemy. However, he also ordered to kill if, and only if, they had no choice.

He was also told that some planes were hastily repaired, while some were ridden of their explosives just before they blew up. Since Scourge placed random timers on all the bombs, they had to be extremely careful. Thankfully, the bombs all weren't due to blow anytime soon, so they were able to take them all out and put them in a secure location or just simply defuse them. Zespio's plane was unfortunately too damaged to save, but a fellow soldier saluted him and happily gave up his bird for him to fly. The chameleon thanked the soldier, before promising to bring it back in one piece. He ran off through the shriveling and dying grass, running to one of the planes the engineers had just finished working on. Thanks to the barricades being put up, he didn't have to worry about dodging stray bullets from cross fire as much. He hopped in without a second thought, and started up the engine. It purred beautifully, and it was ready to fly.

He adjusted his helmet, and pushed his fingers on the side of it as he grabbed hold of the controls to activate his transmitter.

"Soldiers of No Zone," He announced. "This is Colonel Zespio. Forgive me for my absence. Don't despair yet, this is far from over!"

He was right. This fight, was far from over. And it was far too soon to tell who was 'winning' or not.

This may have been war, but this isn't the end.

* * *

His head was splitting.

He couldn't see, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't even think. His eyes-They were burning into his skull...! His throat was drying up like sandpaper, why couldn't he use his body correctly!? That swelling dark pit that sat beneath his heart, it was getting colder. It wasn't a little chilly, it was freezing like a glacier. It hurt, it was consuming him. It devoured anything it could touch, and he couldn't stop it. He tried thinking of positive things, like Shadow, but that just made it worse for some reason. He didn't understand, he loved Shadow. Why wasn't it working?

...

...Was it because he was angry with him? No, he couldn't let that argument control him like this! Okay okay, think about Zonic-No..! All he felt was fear. Just, fear and paranoia. He feared if he would be okay, he was paranoid if Zonic was still sane after being trapped with Scourge.

Fine! Think about Tails. Yes Tails. Tails was okay! He was breathing! Everyone at home was okay, waiting for them to-But the world...Wait, the world was on fire. The world was dying, Mobius was destroyed. So even if his friends were alive, everyone else was...No. No... _NO!_ He refused! He refused to think so negatively! That wasn't him! That wasn't who he was! Why should he give a shit about things he couldn't control? He hated fate! He hated destiny! And he'd be damned if he let anyone try and use his fears and anger to their advantage! No. Push back, push it all away! He'd never become a monster again. Never again! He was here, he was still here!

"Still fighting me, Blue?"

That voice could only belong to one leech in this cursed world. Sonic was holding his hands to his head, gripping his fur tightly so he could still feel pain in the real world. So he wouldn't let his mind get taken by his control. He could feel that his eyes were turning red, his control was penetrating him. Scourge stood in front of him as Sonic knelt on the ground, painfully moaning while clenching his eyelids in a weakened death glare. The green hedgehog put his hands on his hips and sighed, his bright red swirling eyes glowing throughout the now dark teetering ship. Any means of light in this ship was destroyed minutes ago after the boat rocked a couple times. "I-I won't let you..." He hissed. "I'll never let you take me over again! Fuck you!" He spat.

"Blue, you still refuse to understand me." Scourge dropped his smirk and stepped in front of the blue doppleganger. He got down on one of his knees as well, and offered him a hand. "In the end, I don't want you to be some slave of mine. I want you to be _willing_. I don't want you to keep fighting me like this."

"Stop messing with me, damn it. Just stop it! Stop screwing with my head!"

With irritation, Scourge rolled his eyes. "I'm not. I'm just trying to-"

"I don't care! SHUT UP!" Sonic cried as he took one of his hands and threw his fist at the other. It was weak, but it still landed on it's intended target. Scourge didn't even move, he just took the hit to his cheek. Not expecting him to just take the punch, the hero's stubborn nature started to fade. The anti-double tilted his head and placed his hand on top of Sonic's fist. He gently pushed it down and rose his own to gently grasp his chin. He tilted his muzzle upwards and rubbed his thumb against his bottom peach lip.

"I know you don't care. No one did. That's why I'm still so fucked up. _No one listens until it's too late._ So I guess I can't be too mad at you," The anti hedgehog then glided his palm to the side of Sonic's muzzle, dragging the back of his fingers against his cheek affectionately and ever so softly. "But since you won't listen to me, then I can't accept your request to just 'stop'. You already had your chance to save me Blue, and you missed it. So instead," He trailed off as he leaned closer. Sonic couldn't move away, he wanted to, but his body was frozen. He couldn't move his feet, he couldn't blink, he couldn't look away. He was trapped in his eyes. No matter how many times he yelled to himself to get up and run, he couldn't. The darkness in his heart was engulfing his organ system, through his nerves, through his veins. It was spreading like a cancer, and he could no longer control it. Scourge released that leash he had on his power, and it was taking him over. "I love you, Blue." He whispered before pressing his mouth against his peach lips. "And I'll love you, until absolute oblivion. That's why you have to do this for me," He pulled Sonic closer to deepen the kiss.

He couldn't move, he couldn't move, _he couldn't move-!_

"Become Dark Sonic..."

 _No! I don't want to hurt anyone! Not again, I don't want to be a monster again...! No! Please, stop! STOP!_

"...And help me end this war, by killing anyone in my way."

He couldn't stop thinking, he couldn't stop listening, he couldn't-

It was too late.

Once again, he had him.

* * *

 _Where was he?_

 _Was this a dream?_

 _All he could hear was that bastard's voice..!_

"Hey step daddy," _He could hear his disembodied voice with its smug tone._ "Remember all those zone cops that went missing?" _He teased. "_ And I know you remember your precious assistant lieutenant general Zhadow."

 _All he could see next, was not darkness, but a vision. His men, men and women of several diverse species far and wide, some from other worlds. He sent some of them to anti-Möbius to investigate, and hadn't heard from them since. He even sent his own right hand man, his lover, Zhadow. There they were, all in their uniforms with their medals, marching across the grounds of Moebius. He of course was taking lead, calmly giving orders in his helmet transmitter to his men. Like always, he looked so cool, his uniform perfectly polished and groomed. The perfect general for any army. Zonic talked a big game but, Zhadow was the true hero. They were patrolling through the dark ghettos of the anti-world, a neighborhood that Zonic recognized all too well._

 _This was the same neighborhood that was only a few blocks away from the castle. One more turn and they'd be in that barren greenfield that led up to the royal structure. Supposedly where Sonic prime escaped from his kidnapping, only to be captured by Scourge himself once again. Yes, this was that very place. Zhadow stopped, and told his men to spread out evenly and to be on high alert. Ah, his favorite soldiers were there. The sheep, the lion, all of them. Back when they were still alive. They saluted and nodded, going off in separate directions with different small groups of cops. Zhadow stood there alone, watching his men move. The second they were gone, he traveled a little further in the direction of the castle that towered above them all in the distance._

 _He heard footsteps, and his guard was up immediately. Zhadow swiftly turned around while aiming one of their state of the art, modified pistols from No Zone Corp. He narrowed his eyes dangerously, yelling, "Halt. This area is currently being patrolled by No Zone personnel. It is off limits to civilians. If you are a survivor of **The Tragedy** , I will happily escort you back to-" He stopped mid sentence, as his mouth hung open. His aim faltered, and even lowered slowly. He then began to smirk, and put down the weapon at his side. He reached to the back of his helmet and allowed pressurized air to push out from underneath, pulling it off of his cranium to reveal his face. _

_The black and red striped hedgehog commander continued to make a small grin, and put his helmet in his arm at his side. He watched the stranger coming towards him cease their movements once they were close enough, and matched his movements. He took off his helmet as well and dropped it, revealing a blue hedgehog with dark green eyes. He could never forget a face as flawless as his. His little rookie had grown up so much, he was proud. But most of all, his attraction for him grew tenfold. He remembered it like it was yesterday, the way he used to give him attitude and refuse his advice as a higher up. He disciplined him well, and trained him into a better soldier. No, a warrior. He was his student, but eventually, he became his lover._

 _And God damn was he stunning._

 _He may have been younger than him, but he didn't care. Not at all. The way he walked towards him like that, with that uniform filled to the brim with medals on his chest that he rightfully earned with his help. That aloof expression, that stoic persona. Something he took on over time during his training, and he loved it all the same. He figured that was just him trying to be like his teacher, but now he could confidently say that this was his true identity. The result of being truly mature. Again, he loved this. "So you followed me all the way here? Couldn't stay away for long, huh? You should know better rookie," He lowered his eyes at his blue partner suggestively. "When I give you orders, I expect you to follow them obediently. Unless of course, I need to give you another punishment for acting rebellious?"_

 _He only showed this playful side to him, and only him._

 _Seeing as how his coy nature didn't receive a response from the younger hedgehog, the elder commander sighed and closed his eyes. "Look, I know you didn't want me to do this. I understand your concern for me, but I already told you feeling like that was meaningless. You've no need to worry for me at all, I promised you I'd return." He opened them back up and looked to the side. "I won't let anything stop me from returning to you, and that's a lesson you still refuse to learn, even after all these years."_

 _The blue hedgehog, who still refused to say a word, only took one more step closer until he was face to face with his teacher. The second the elder tried to turn his head, the younger seized the side of his face and forcefully turned his attention back to him. Their eyes met, and the elder could sense a fierce, intense emotion flaming inside of his green eyes. It seemed almost ominous, and he wasn't even smiling or making a side smirk. He seemed completely serious._

 _And he loved that._

 _He loved it when he played hard to get, and he loved it even more when he acted rough with him. His little rookie was one hell of a tease, that was for sure. He just grinned and chuckled. "Putting your hands on your superiors? I could have you detained for this, you know." Before he could make another comment, his rookie pulled him in closer, to place his lips upon his. The elder wasn't even phased. He just took him by the waist and held him, consummating their mouths and their tongues together without a care for anything. They didn't care if they were caught by other soldiers, they didn't care if enemies dropped in to try and kill them, they didn't care if the already barren anti-world imploded in on itself right then and there. It was just them now, the two of them alone in this very moment, together. He loved him so much, and he loved him back in return. The ebony furred hedgehog disconnected their kiss with a small amount of spit splitting from their mouths. "As much as I would love to throw you on this disease written concrete and ravish you until you fell unconscious, we've both got a job to do. And yours requires for you to be in No Zone, protecting HQ and keeping watch over the realities. Not here with me."_

 _Suddenly, the younger pulled one of his hands towards his back. He planted his hand near his tail, urging for him to grab him there. He wanted to be groped that badly? He wanted to do it here, and now of all places at the worst time? He may have been a young adult just walking from the lines of his teenager years, but he was never_ this _adamant on getting plowed. The kid had hormones, but he knew better than to act on them all the time. "...Fuck me."_

 _..._ What?

 _The older lieutenant general blinked with a slow and silent pause. Did he really just say that? That really wasn't like him at all._

 _"Fuck me. Please, I need you." The younger gripped the side of his uniform and leaned his body against him. He ended up planting his face in the nook of his neck, wrapping his arms around him tightly. "I need you inside of me, I need you to hurt me..." He whispered to him. While it was true that they may have, experimented, in certain things that were quite masochistic, the kid was never this forward about it. His rookie, it seemed like he was under some kind of spell. What was going on here? "Filling me up, touching me all over, spilling everywhere all over my body~" He began to chuckle._

 _"...Something's wrong with you." The higher up concluded, gently taking his hands away from his body. "I think you need to return to HQ, Zonic. You're intoxicated. At least, that's the only inference I can make based on your behavior as of now." The blue hedgehog, like a zombie, mindlessly raised his arms and placed his palms on the sides of his older lieutenant general's face. "What are you..!?"_

 _"I love you so much, Zhadow~" He made a drunken smile, his eyes clouded with something he couldn't make out or describe. "I'll take your cock every night if I have to. Just to make you happy-"_

 _"The hell..!? Get off!" Zhadow growled as he gripped the blue one's wrists, struggling to pull him off. What in the..? Why was he suddenly so strong? Zonic was never a match for him in the physical department. He was squeezing his hands on his face, giggling and sneering like some villain._

 _He tilted his head childishly. "Awww? You don't want me now? I thought you liked to paddle me and spank me, like the naughty boy I am. I keep disobeying your orders, I'm such a bad boy~ I need to be punished, I need you to hit me, to fuck me into submission. Don't you want that? Huuuuh?"_

 _"Damn you Zonic, get the fuck off of me! Or else I'll be forced to-"_

 _"What?" Zonic's voice, was no longer present. Someone else's replaced it. It was raspier, slightly deeper, and more malicious. The person wearing his lover's face, it most definitely wasn't his rookie. The person he thought he knew and loved, was nothing but a fake. Their phony green eyes, became bright red, and small scars began to decorate themselves all over his face and body. His eyelids darkened, as if he hadn't slept in years. "I don't get what the issue is, step daddy Zhadow," 'Step daddy'? There was only one inmate he knew of who called him such a name. But it couldn't be..! He dropped off the face of the universe, he had disappeared. He made his way back here, but how? When? Why didn't they detect him? Why couldn't they find him, after all this time? Why was he here!? "I thought you liked seeing your inmates submissive. You sure like it when step daddy Zonic does it, and I've been experienced in the whole 'drop the soap' thing. I'm not a virgin, in both ways. You can have me all you want~"_

 _"..! You..!"_

 _"Heh. You sound like a fuckin' anime character, dude. Surprised to see me?" He dropped his hold on Zhadow's face, and watched with a dark smile as the black hedgehog backed away quickly. "You sure kissed the shit outta me. I'm not that bad, right? A little inexperienced with you maybe, cause I'm not used to kissin' guys all that much. Not consensually anyway. Can't say I didn't enjoy myself though..." The impostor licked his lips slowly, and put it between his fingers. "I wouldn't mind tossin' your salad either, if you're up for that."_

 _That disgusting rat. He didn't know how or why he was able to make himself look like Zonic so well after his mutation, but this little game of his has gone far enough. He needed to be put down, immediately. With a grunt, Zhadow clenched and cracked his knuckles at his sides, his gauntlets sparking with power. The impostor rose a brow and whistled._

 _"Nice threads. I should study them some time. The new uniforms are pretty spiffy, gotta admit."_

 _Zhadow readied his body to fight. "I am done being toyed by you. Your death will bring joy to all those of your world, and mine."_

 _"Yeah...Though, it's a shame with all your cool little fancy equipment-" In a flash, the faker was gone. With widening eyes, Zhadow tried to turn around, as he felt his presence appear just then. But he just wasn't fast enough._

 _Because the moment he did turn around, the barrel of No Zone steel was met with his forehead._

 _"-You're still no match for me."_

 _He pulled the trigger._

 _Scourge's red glinting eyes faded back to ice cold blue, and his appearance returned to normal. With one hand in his jacket pocket, he leaned down and picked up the now unconscious black hedgehog over his shoulder. He just made him think he got shot in the head, when in reality, he didn't do anything to him. He mind fucked this guy good, he was out cold. Probably not dead, but just on the brink. Now let's see, what could he do with this little asshole? Ah, he could just shove him under the bed next to Miles._

 _He was sure Dark Sonic wouldn't mind if they had some more company in his torture room._

* * *

 _He was the one who killed him._

 _He was the one who shot him._

 _He was the one who put his love in a coma._

 _He did it._

 _He did it all._

 _Him._

 _Him._

Him.

 _That green, evil abomination of hell._

 _He. Did. It. All._

 _...Ha, it was funny._

 _Zonic was positive Overseers weren't supposed to be able to use chaos energy, b_ _ut the rage, sorrow, guilt and regret he was feeling inside of him right now, surely felt like it._

 _He'd love to use it, but first he needed to do something extremely important._

He had to wake up.

* * *

"Damn you, wake up!"

Shadow exclaimed before putting his mouth back over the lieutenant general's. He puffed oxygen into his mouth and down his throat a few times, before taking his lips away and taking both of his hands to push against his chest. After a while, Shadow had previously pulled open Zonic's uniform top to reveal his healthy peach abdomen. They were both drenched in water, and his eyes were closed. He wasn't breathing, meaning he had drowned unconsciously before he could reach him in the ocean. Though he was quick in retrieving him and pulling him from the water, it didn't matter. He was still too late.

As he pressed his palms on his chest a couple of times, he watched his face for a reaction. After a brief amount of silence, a faint amount of gurgling was heard. Water was rising up from his lungs. With hope sparking in his red eyes, Shadow tried pushing a few more times before stopping and grasping Zonic's face to help him sit up. Instantly, the commander squeezed his eyelids tightly, and began to cough and hack. Salt water spat from his mouth, and it dripped from out of his nose. Shadow pulled his upper body upwards, and patted his back so he could cough everything out. The blue hedgehog hunched and puked over more water. His eyes were bloodshot, and he could barely breathe. "Breathe, commander." Shadow advised softly.

Zonic was straining, having some difficulty getting in oxygen after being sat up, but he eventually managed to pant and inhale a little better. Shadow could tell from the way his irises were, that he was dizzy and lightheaded. Then, Zonic weakly turned his head to look Shadow in the eyes. He was laid against his torso, his head laying against his fluffy chest fur. "...Zhadow..?" He murmured. He even smiled a little. "You're.." He steadily reached up, laying his hand against Shadow's muzzle. "...Thank goodness..." He rambled.

"..? Commander, you're delusional. Probably from lack of oxygen. Commander Zhadow is still in a coma-!" He was cut off by a full-blown kiss from yours truly. They were soft, and tasted similar to Sonic's. With a shocked expression, Shadow quickly but gently pulled his head away from the kiss. "Please, control yourself. I am not Zhadow. Faker would be pissed if he found out you did that."

Zonic frowned, blinking slowly and repeating the crude nick name. "Faker..?"

"Sonic prime. Don't you remember?" He asked, cradling his lover's twin against him.

"Sonic prime..." He repeated again. "Prime, _Sonic._.."

Was he hearing another voice?

 _Of course you remember him. He's the one we tasked your bloodline to look after. You care for him immensely, don't you?_

 _You both do. I am helping you break out of this madness the anti-Sonic spiraled you down to, but my power can only help but so much, as I am not at full strength._

 _You need to wake up, Overseer. You need to assist your champion._

 _Listen to my voice, and wake up._

 _The rest, will be up to you._

"Huh?" Zonic's eyes snapped open, clear and fully awakened. His forest shaded eyes blinked several times, darting back and forth before settling down on Shadow's red ones. What was he just doing? What happened? He slapped his hand to his own muzzle, trying to fully get his brain back online to function. Okay, he got knocked out by Scourge, and then he was for some reason in the water drowning. Shadow prime took him out and onto the beach, then performed CPR successfully. And then he- Oh. Oh God no. With a small amount of redness spread onto his cheeks, Zonic covered his face shamefully with a groan. He just kissed his twin's boyfriend. Not on the cheek, not on the side of the mouth, fully on the lips. Oh man, he was such a damn screw up. He was gonna kill him!

With lowered eyes, Shadow just gave a long hard stare at the commander. "I assume you're fully awake, now."

"I-I..." Zonic stuttered uncharacteristically. "S..Shadow prime, I beg you for your forgiveness." He scrambled out of Shadow's hold and wobbled onto his knees to try and get up. When he tried standing up on his own again, Shadow grasped his forearm and tried to give some support.

"Commander, you're still weak-"

"I am fine, please do not touch me."

"You need help-"

Zonic automatically refused while adverting his eyes away. "I will get back up on my own, please refrain from making any physical contact with me what so ever in the next forty eight hours."

Shadow squinted his eyes harshly. "Forty-eight hours? The hell?"

"This is the end of this conversation, Shadow prime."

Wow, this guy was that desperate to save face? "I understand you're embarrassed, but I'm not going to let you-" Before he could finish what he was saying, Zonic whipped his head at him with an enraged expression, demanding for him to piss off.

"I believe I said that this was the end of this damn conversation. Remove your hand from my arm at once."

"Commander Zonic-"

He began to hiss. "Off. This instant. NOW."

Shadow gave up and let go of Zonic's arm. He just sighed and rolled his eyes while crossing his arms. He saw that even with an unstable balance, Zonic managed to get back up on his own. Now both standing up side by side, Zonic looked down at his torso to see that his uniform was unbuttoned. Probably to assist him in giving CPR. Along with a heavy exhale, the commander blushed as he calmly began to fasten his uniform back to the way it was before. He glanced to the side to see the ultimate life form watching him, making him flinch. Noticing this, Shadow scowled sheepishly and looked away. God this was awkward. "I, had to do _something._ " He said rather meekly.

"I understand. I am grateful. Thank you. For, saving me." Zonic still refused to look him in the eye. "We, should never tell Sonic Prime about this."

"Yeah...Probbaly for the best that he doesn't know."

The other nodded. "Indeed."

Wait a second.

Zonic narrowed his eyes as he finished fixing his uniform. Where the hell was Sonic Prime? He brushed his embarrassment to the side and faced Shadow. "Shadow Prime, where is Sonic Prime?"

With a more angrier scowl, Shadow clenched his teeth. "I was forced to leave him to deal with our green adversary. Faker has a fear of large bodies of water, and he cannot swim. I had to leave him alone in order to save you."

Oh damn it all. "I honestly wish you had let me drown to death." Zonic whispered in horror.

"I didn't want to leave him, believe me. But we didn't have a choice, we couldn't let you die!"

Zonic stepped over and grasped Shadow's shoulders to shake him strongly. What happened to not wanting to be touched for forty eight hours? Why was he acting like this all of a sudden? "My death is minimal compared to the consequences that will unfold if Sonic Prime falls victim to that psychopath!"

"What are you saying?" Shadow furrowed his brows.

"Shadow Prime, understand that Sonic Prime is-"

"-Right the _fuck_ here!" Scourge announced proudly.

Wincing at the arrival of their most hated shared enemy, Shadow and Zonic slowly rose their heads and turned around to glance at two hedgehogs who were just a few yards away on the beach. Just as they turned to look away from the scenery of the ocean, a gigantic explosion rumbled the earth from below. Almost all of the ships, one by one, were exploding and sinking into the waters. Debris and rubbish floated or sunk along with the falling metal boats, bubbles rising to the surface to pop. All of that equipment, so much money just thrown down the drain. The Warden was going to rip off his mustache out once he found out about this. Since they were somewhat close to the destruction, a few pieces flew by them and landed hard onto the white sand beside their shoes. Shadow grit his teeth, he was so sick of this cat-and-mouse game they were playing. He just wanted to fight him and kick his ass already! Why did he keep running-

He had Sonic.

The other hedgehog with him, the other hedgehog with him was-

"...No." Zonic growled angrily. This was what he was afraid of, he didn't need this happening right now! If he was under Scourge's control, things could get even worse. He did study about this form, as he was ordered to by veteran officers, but he never actually dealt with one of Sonic prime's forms before. He's never even see the super form before. Not to mention, they were powerless against him like this. At the sight of Dark Sonic, Shadow's anger could no longer be quelled. He was done, he had to kill this bastard once and for all! How dare he brainwash him, turning into this disgusting form again? Using him like some toy soldier. "Damn him," Zonic cursed.

Scourge put a hand beside his mouth to laugh triumphantly like a pompous monarch, tossing his head back as he cackled with a 'ho ho ho!' He eyed Shadow particularly with a sneer and continued to giggle to himself as his navy blue- furred mind controlled lover stood beside him without emotion. Negative and repulsive energy flowed from his body in an awful aura, his quills raised and his lime green eyes now nearly transparent. He was staring at nothing, as if he wasn't even present in the world as of now. The green hedgehog placed his hand on his peach shoulder, causing Shadow to pop a vein from his head. "See, look. They just kissed, and even agreed to hide it right behind your back! How gutless." He instigated. "Are you gonna let Stripes get away with that? Even after you made sweet looooove~?" As he spoke, emotion began to spill in Dark Sonic's expression. His empty face became wrathful, his now fanged teeth clenching and his arms rattling against his sides. His fur ruffled up, his ear flattening back as his eyes completely disappeared and glowed white. His anger was becoming so strong, the ground below them all rumbled even stronger than the tremors from the previously exploding ships.

Shadow could not only see but feel the evident anger colored all over his lover's face. He never saw him _that_ angry before, not ever. Not even when he was hypnotized last time. But this time, no, he looked so much worse. So much more monstrous. So hellish, so vicious and horrifyingly intimidating. He wondered to himself, was this how he looked when he was once a slave for Black Doom? When he was a slave to his own rage? To his own screwed up memories tailored to revenge? Scourge was telling Sonic to be angry, this wasn't really him.

But, what if a part of it _was?_

What if the real Sonic deep down, was actually reacting to seeing him kiss the commander, and was truly livid? To this, Shadow knew he had a lot of apologizing to do later. However, now wasn't the time to feel guilty. They had to stop him no matter what, both of them. Even if, they were reluctant to fight against Sonic, they had to do something!

"Hey baby," Scourge began to seduce the other, slithering his arm from behind and grabbing his backside just like last time. As he groped him, he whispered, "Remember that~? Mnn, I know you missed me touching you there." He leaned closer against his ear, rubbing his fingers up and down from behind him. Dark Sonic's rage induced expression dimmed once he was touched, looking away bashfully and blushing with a small moan. He was then grasped by the arms and dipped backwards, Scourge holding him securely as he moved downwards to shove his mouth onto his to share a rough kiss. As they connected their mouths, Scourge enjoyed himself immensely, but kissing wasn't the only thing that was occurring. "Mmmnn..." As his tongue swirled inside of Sonic's mouth, he broke the kiss slowly. Saliva fell from their lips, but it wasn't just spit, it was a dark, almost black energy being dissolved down his lover's throat. Scourge smirked, and glared at Shadow as he licked his lips.

" _You..._ " Shadow growled as red aura instantly inflamed his entire body. " _Fucking_ son of a bitch-!"

"Shadow prime, don't!" Zonic seized his shoulder to hold him back from moving. They could not fight against them, those two as a team would be deadly to go up against.

Scourge let Dark Sonic go, who stumbled back and nearly fell. He coughed and hacked, making strangling and choking noises as he threw his hands to his neck. He fell to his knees, scratching at his throat and making red marks. That stuff he put in his mouth, it acted as poison. Red glowing static surged around him, and then glinted through his white eyes. He was fully Scourge's, now. Soon, his struggles to breathe came to a stop. He steadily stood up, his face now completely drained of any glimpses of the true Sonic. The anti-twin just shrugged. "I mean ya'll kissed, so it's only fair we do too. You brought it on yourselves."

With hopelessness flooding his ruby red eyes, Shadow grimaced as he watched his lover become the trump card of the green bastard's army.

He was gone.

* * *

 **END - 31**

 **"** _No one listens until it's too late._ **"**

 **I'm sorry for the wait.**


	36. Wrath of Dark

**32 - Wrath Of Dark**

* * *

Colonel Zector and Colonel Zespio stood over the unconscious or dead bodies of their enemies with darkened faces. The few aircrafts that were repaired flew over the green field to monitor the war, and they had previously dropped missiles at their enemies to help thin out the numbers even more. The chameleon just dropped off from his own jet, standing alongside his comrade of the seas. The crocodile figured that perhaps things were finally wrapping up. Nurses and doctors already dragged away the dead or unconscious bodies of their fallen soldiers. Bomb squads already inspected and disarmed any bombs that were still left in their equipment. Surviving and able-bodied soldiers were left resting or waiting in the battlefield, anticipating another attack.

All of Scourge's men, were neutralized. His army had dwindled down to nearly nothing, as they knew some of them were still hiding from them. It wouldn't be long before they got them too. It was all in such a short amount of time too, or at least, that's what it felt like. Once Zector returned, and once Zespio woke up from his dirt nap, everything rose to a climax. But it was truly thanks to everyone's efforts, that they managed to knock them all down. They both were just, angry that the king himself didn't decide to show up. It had been what felt like hours since he captured their commander. Why didn't he return? Didn't he realize his men were down? Didn't he realize he basically just lost this war? Wasn't it over? Weren't they done? Why were they still here? They wanted this to be done, they didn't want to fight anymore They had already lost so much, losing so many people.

Sonic and Shadow Prime just vanished, going after their commander towards the sea. They were worried, they were willing to run back over there to fight. But they knew Zonic wouldn't want that. They knew he ordered them not to, and to stay on the battlefield for support. They couldn't keep standing here idling by, they had to either leave, or do something. They hated this waiting game! They hated that they had to stand over dead bodies, soldiers or not. They didn't want this, they didn't want to end anyone's lives. If killing wasn't necessary, they'd do so as a last resort, but killing wasn't what they were about. That's the number one thing Zonic tried to enforce for years even before he became Lieutenant General.

They tried using their transmitters, but no one ever answered. They even prepared for the worst, asking themselves if they were ready to see Zonic's dead body among the list of casualties, or his head in Scourge's hands. They couldn't see that, they'd never be able to stomach his death. Not him.

Just...Please, not him-

-What was that?

Their eyes had a strange light emanating off of them. The purple chameleon and green crocodile turned their heads and glanced up to the sky. Others did the same, as they saw a strange light reflect off their helmets. Odd, was the sky growing darker? It should have only been noon. And even if it was evening by now, it was summer time in this world. Days were longer, it shouldn't have gotten dark that quickly, as if it was ten at night. Actually, was that the _moon?!_ Why was the _moon_ up? It was a full one too, but how? It couldn't have been night time yet! Zector placed his new helmet back on his head, and pressed his finger on the side to activate the digital clock programmed in the visor. It was only four at noon! No reason why they should be seeing a moon in the sky. Was this another one of Scourge's tricks?

 _"Atten-"_ Static through their helmets. _"-Attention! Can anyone-"_ Static. _"-Anyone hear me?!"_ A worrisome voice said in the transmitters. That was Zonic's voice! _"Please, if anyone can hear me-"_ More static. They could barely hear him. _"Anti-Sonic is on the move, you all need to-"_ Even more static. _"-Get out of there! Sonic Prime has fallen victim to his brainwash-"_ Damn it, he was barely making clear sentences. _"Brainwashing. He is not himself, please stay clear of them! Shadow prime and I will handle this, but until then-"_ His voice was fading out. _"Retreat immediately!"_

"What?" They both exclaimed. Retreat? Retreat?! They won, so why were they retreating? Then again, Zonic drilled into their heads several times that Scourge was not to be underestimated. And if he managed to take advantage of Sonic Prime, that could be bad. Still, they had a great chance of winning this thing, why did he sound so worried? The transmission abruptly ended with a lot of static, shutting off completely. Zector and Zespio shared a look, before turning to their officers and demanding them to clear out this instant. They then ordered for them to be stealthy so no one could be seen, should they need to make a surprise attack.

Zespio then went to his jet to radio in orders to the others in the skies. "Get out of the area! Either return to HQ or land nearby so you can hide!" Zector then made communications with HQ, alerting everyone, especially the Warden, to have the building ready to shoot another gigantic missile if needed. He began running along with other officers who were sprinting to the outskirts of the green field. Some ran to base, while others escaped to HQ with bodies of Scourge's men or their own. They used vehicles, or ran on foot. Jets zoomed by or struggled to land, before the pilots hopped out and sprinted away.

Sudennly, there was an earthquake.

The entire world shook, making large tremors. The ground of the once beautiful greenfield, was cracked with the ground lifting up and breaking apart. Trees fell, stranded vehicles or aircrafts stumbled over. Zector almost tripped over his own feet, and Zespio just barely made it to the outskirts along with him. He panted from how fast he ran, but that wasn't his concern. Black clouds looked over the field, covering their world entirely. The sun was gone, thunder rumbled throughout the skies. That moon was glowing a lot brighter than it should have, acting as if it was a replacement for their forgotten sun. Lightning tore across the atmosphere, a few bolts striking down onto the earth below. It was like a natural disaster was occurring, but why? And why did the moon look like it was really close? As if trying to hypnotize them, it glowed brighter.

Through that dark illuminated sky, they could see a silhouette in the distance. They were in the sky, floating. It kind of looked like a hedgehog, but their quills were raised. It couldn't have been their leader, and it couldn't have been Scourge. Slowly, the clouds parted, the moon's light dimmed almost instantly as its entire form just dispersed into pieces along the sky. It was as if it was shattered by something, or someone.

A navy blue furred hedgehog drifted in the air, hovering down as the clouds swirled from his presence. Their eyes were glowing white, their pupils gone. They floated down to land. A negative energy followed them the entire time, spreading and infecting their environment.

Then, a black, red and blue streak zoomed and sped in their direction. Shadow Prime, with their commander on his back, skidded to a stop in on his hi-tech skates. The two were right in the middle of the battleground. They turned their heads, noticing all of the soldiers and enemies were no where to be seen. They could see that Zonic let out a breath of air, probably a sigh of relief. He was glad everyone did as he ordered and either hid, or escaped. But from what? That person in the sky? The lieutenant general jumped from Shadow's back and readjusted his footwear. He didn't use it to run here himself as he was still slightly recovering from his drowning experience, but he was alright now. He glanced over at the striped hedgehog. "As I recall, the last time you encountered Sonic prime's dark form, things didn't go well for you."

"Your recollection is correct." Shadow replied with a grim tone. "Damn him, I thought he balanced his negative energy. Now I can't even sense his positive energy, everything's just shrouded!" He growled, both with anger and disappointment. He thought Sonic knew better than to fall victim to his darkness. The first time he turned, though it was forced, Sonic already had plenty of negative emotions increase the chance of transformation. The fact that he was kidnapped by one of his most hated enemies, the fact that was tortured by the bastard, and the fact that he pretty much felt helpless and pathetic at the time. What could have triggered him this time?

Sure the war might have turned his mood down but-

* * *

 _Now more of Scourge's men were alive, currently trying to kill the surviving No Zone forces. They used guns, rocks, anything they could get their hands on in the environment. Zonic swore to himself that he'd never lose a soldier, and now look what's happened. So many people were dead. Blood was caking the now shriveled up and dead blades of grass._

 _He failed his friend._

 _Shadow has witnessed these kinds of atrocities before, but he was sure Sonic didn't. Speaking of which-!_

 _He turned to his partner, only to see his face darkened. He could feel that darkness from before growing inside of him. No, he couldn't lose him right now, he had to wake up and get his act together. No wasn't the time to feel sorry or grieve for anyone. Shadow gripped his shoulder and turned him around forcefully. "Wake up!" He yelled. "Stop worrying about them!"_

 _"Excuse you..!? Don't worry!? They're all dead, Shadow!"_

 _"It's war, faker. That's what happens in a war, people die!"_

 _"No shit, but don't tell me not to worry! I don't want to see anyone die! I'm supposed to help and save them!"_

 _"Then why did you even join this fight!? No matter how much you think you can, you need to grow the hell up so you can fully comprehend the concept of loss and death. The more you give into that goody-two-shoes side of yours, the more you'll be disappointed with reality."_

* * *

 _Fight him? With that power? He could try to hold him off until Shadow got back but, this was Scourge we were talking about. He could pull something crazy at any second. N-Not to mention...He silently gulped as he saw the long drop down into the abyss of a slow, lengthy and painful watery grave. Chaos, why did they have to fight here? Why? Why? What if he tripped and fell in? What if Scourge pushed him in?_

* * *

 _"See, look. They just kissed, and even agreed to hide it right behind your back! How gutless." He instigated. "Are you gonna let Stripes get away with that? Even after you made sweet looooove~?"_

* * *

...Fuck.

Chaos, God fucking damn it all!

It _would_ be his fault that he's like this. It _would_ be his fault that Sonic turned into this, it _would_ be his fault that he drove him right into that bastard's hands! He covered the side of his face with frustration. Why did he say all of that stuff? Why? Why did he yell at him? Why did he call him those things? Why did he belittle him for trying to be optimistic? Why did he snap on him like that? Not only that, but he kissed his No Zone counterpart, someone who he considered a brother. He kissed his twin, he snapped on him, and worst of all, he let him fight that green stain of shit by himself in one of the worst situations he could have been trapped in. He made him fight his most hated enemy in the center of his biggest fear, the ocean. For the past hour or so, he treated Sonic like garbage.

They made love, and Sonic gave him his maidenhood. This was how he paid him back? All of this?

Transforming probably didn't even take that much of a struggle. He was probably so fed up with Shadow, so angry...He was a terrible excuse for a mate. If he were in Sonic's shoes, he'd be willing to transform into a monster, too. After witnessing everything that's transpired here today, anyone would. This was his fault, and it was a horrible mistake. No, it was more than just one mistake. There were plenty he had to make up for, but this was nothing he couldn't fix. Though it was Tails who broke Sonic out of that transformation the first time, Shadow was positive he could do it again himself. They were closer now, the had a much stronger bond with the great connection of a loving and powerful wavelength. There was no doubt in his mind that he could get him back. After all, they loved each other. He had to revert back to normal, he just had to.

"Aaahahahahahaaa!" A mocking voice cackled.

The green hedgehog twirled around with his hands in the air, dancing with the swirling negative aura drifting around the air. He even paused to take a nice big whiff of the chaotic polluted atmosphere, before giggling and dancing away with grace and balance. He hummed a song, his favorite song, the oh so classical Claire De Lune. You just couldn't go wrong with that song, it was just so beautiful. He dipped and bowed, even standing on the tip of his toes as if he was a ballerina. He then bent down to grip some dead grass blades in his hand, before throwing them up like confetti into the air. He cheered for joy, hopping up and down before continuing his delusional dance of madness. He didn't even trip over the dead bodies of No Zone cops, or his own men. He was just so happy that he finally got back his beloved Dark Sonic, his not-so-guilty pleasure. He was going to love him forever this time! He'd make sure of it.

As the maniac danced over the corpses of his own dead gang, Dark Sonic began to descend down from the skies. The only thing the cursed angel was missing, were a pair of black feathered wings. To both Shadow and Scourge, something like that would fit him rather well. The dark being with nearly black fur stepped down beside Scourge and finally landed on his feet. That horrid black and dark blue energy followed him, along with the red power from earlier. It sparked around his body like small doses of scarlet static. Scourge made a few more twirls towards the fellow hedgehog, before getting down on his knees and hugging his legs. He squealed like a girl, rubbing his face against his fur. "Dark Sonic, Dark Sonic, Dark Sonic _yaaaasss_ queen!" After hearing no response from him, Scourge pouted and looked up at his muzzle. "Notice me senpai." He stood up and grasped both of his hands. "Come ooonn, notice me! I brought you out here, I freed you. I even made that golden yellow prick in your head disappear!" He frowned as he saw absolutely no emotion from the hedgehog.

"..." Dark Sonic didn't even blink.

Scourge lowered his eyes and scowled, his humorous persona gone just as fast. "What's up with you? Last time, I had you in the palm of my hands. You were just begging for me to give you attention." He looked to the side for a second, thinking to himself. Did he screw up when he brainwashed him? "I could have sworn I did it right, and it felt like I took control. So what gives?" He shook Dark Sonic's shoulders violently and even yanked him closer. "Why aren't you responding!? Why aren't you getting flustered or...or trying to kiss me or something? You love me, don't you? That's what I ordered you to do!" He moved his grip from his shoulders to his wrists, painfully tight. "Kiss me! I'm ordering you to kiss me!"

"..."

With a snarl growing in his throat, Scourge's eyes began to shrink. He was starting to piss him off. "You better do what I say right now, or-"

Dark Sonic obeyed, leaned forward, and instantly connected his lips with the other. Then, Scourge became trapped. Dark Sonic was the one gripping his arms, pulling him even closer as his hold became bone breaking. The green one couldn't move, and he made muffled sounds of panic with twitching eyes as his lip was deeply bitten. He then felt something foul enter his mouth. It wasn't his tongue, it was something else. Something that felt like a gas, but tasted like rotten flesh. Navy blue energy entered his mouth, and traveled down his throat. Scourge's muffled screams echoed across the battlefield, as Shadow and Zonic watched with shock. Scourge struggled to get out of his hold, trying to pull himself away from him. He even tried to kick, but it was no use. Suddenly, he was thrown down onto the grass as Dark Sonic licked his lips of his blood, that seemed to be an unhealthy dark red color. The dark being dusted himself off, as if Scourge as a whole was mere dirt. " **...So you noticed it this time.** " His voice, was deeper than it should have been. Raspy like Scourge, but a lot more malicious, if that were even possible. " ** _Breath of Death._ An ability a mortal like you wouldn't be able to comprehend, unless under my influence.** " He adjusted his gloves before crossing his arms over his chest. " **I used it on you before, when you consummated our mouths earlier. You of course didn't notice, as you were too enthralled with your own demented lust to do so.** "

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "The hell? Why is he talking like that?"

Zonic noticed his suspicion. "This isn't normal?"

"No," The ultimate life form shook his head. "Faker didn't sound like himself, but he didn't talk like some kind of...imperious inbred." Shadow then felt a very dangerous spark of fear thread it's way through his chest. "And his voice, it sounds like him, but it doesn't at the same time. It sounds, warped. As if he's no longer a Mobian."

The commander understood what this meant. "...He isn't."

"What..?" The red striped hedgehog immediately whipped his head at him. "What are you talking about?"

Zonic swallowed hard. He took a step forward, and darted his eyes towards the once famed blue hero. He noticed how his eyes were still glowing white. If his studies were correct, and if what the past Overseers wrote was indeed true, then this was Dark Sonic's fullest potential. "Tell me, did he look exactly like this the first time you saw his transformation?" Zonic asked quickly.

Shadow was going to say yes, until he remembered something.

 _His once bright lime green eye, was now a dim, dark swampy-like color. And one of them even seemed to be faded away, like his eye was almost completely glowing white._

That's right, one of Sonic's eyes were white but the other wasn't for some reason. As if the transformation wasn't complete. How did he never notice that before? That's when he began to piece together what was happening, and why Scourge was tossed away like a rag doll. "...No. One of his eyes were white, but one of them wasn't."

Zonic nodded, feeling confident in his conclusions. He continued to speak. "This is a stronger form of Dark Sonic. You see Shadow prime," Zonic glanced at Shadow. "I already told you Sonic prime isn't just some normal Mobian, if that wasn't already obvious. Not just anyone can use chaotic abilities, you must be blessed. Sonic is ultimately a Chaos Born." He pointed towards the dark being. "Chaos Born are blessed with chaotic powers, and if they're lucky, given super forms such as this. These forms as Divine beings, are so powerful that they can even change the very weather or day of night, which is why the moon is out even though it's only four at noon. Anti-Sonic is a Chaos Born as well, and that's why he possesses such powers. However, as the Champion of Realities, Sonic prime is blessed with the powers of all original four super forms, the very deities that were responsible for creating his race. Remember when I told you about them?" Zonic could see Shadow's face become more and more lost with the explanation. Shadow wasn't slow or stupid, he was just put off by such information being told to him out of the blue. "Well, if Sonic prime were to transform into one of his negative forms, their influence is more than likely to take over. However, this influence can become instant and overpowering if the form becomes stronger. The Dark Sonic you saw before was weak compared to this one, and that's why you were able to break him out of Scourge's control." Zonic briefly looked towards Scourge, who was still laying against the ground. He wondered if he was knocked out.

"So," Shadow began to deduce. "The form I encountered before, it wasn't anywhere near it's fullest potential. Probably so Scourge could have better control over it. Not only that, but because this form's stronger, it completely took over Sonic's personality. So it's not even him talking right now, at all." That made him wonder. Whenever Sonic turned Super, was _that_ form at his fullest? When they were taking turns fighting the Biohazard, was Super Sonic at his strongest back then? Hell, what about Shadow's own? That would explain why he didn't combust on the way down from the ark, and why Sonic still had the strength to get back to safety before he did. Their fights, him losing to his enemies, was Sonic just holding back this whole time? Or, was he not aware of his own full potential? Just how strong was the kid? And for that matter, how powerful was Scourge? If the whole opposite shtick held up to be true, then Scourge should be weaker, and yet he was still a huge problem.

Plus, this meant it'd be tougher to break Sonic out from this funk. That dark entity's influence was stronger than ever, meaning it'd be a battle just to attempt at reaching out to his lover. But he had to try, he couldn't just let this go on. "Faker!" Shadow suddenly yelled. He gained Dark Sonic's attention, who merely rose his head, then lowered his eyes. "Are you really going to put us through this again? Don't you remember what happened last time?" He hoped bringing up the past incident would trigger some memories to touch upon his emotions. "Remember how you destroyed the forest? Remember how frightened Tails was? Remember how you nearly killed Knuckles? How you hurt me? How you let that psychopath use you? How he touched you!?" He hollered. "Are you really going to let him put you through that again? Are you?"

The other just continued to stare back at Shadow from afar, not bothering to move an inch or give any indication that he was actually listening to him.

"Sonic, _please,_ " Shadow clenched his fists and tried slowly walking forward. "Just break out of it. This isn't you," If he could just let him grab him, perhaps he could get to his neck again to dissolved some of that acidic negativity away. Just like last time. He held out one hand, trying to show him a sense of compassion as he walked amongst the dead grass. He meant no harm. "Please-"

" **...Could you stop talking, please?** "

...

...What?

"Huh..?" Shadow blinked as his legs came to a halt.

With a little more hesitation to his voice, the being spoke again. " **You are wasting your time, mortal. I've no interest in phony excuses for organic life.** " With that, he turned his attention elsewhere. Just, so carelessly. He looked down at Scourge, who was starting to struggle to push himself off of the ground. He could barely stand as he wobbled on his feet, and he craned his head to see Dark Sonic looking down upon him. He began to smile, even has his own dried blood continued to cake on his bottom lip.

"Amazing," He whispered. He carefully stepped a little closer towards the dark being. With an enchanted dream-like glare in his eyes, he swooned. "You treat me almost as bad as I treat Fiona. _Awesome._ "

Dark Sonic just frowned in disgust. " **You are beyond broken. Nothing, will ever fix you.** " He replied in a quiet voice. He began to levitate from the ground, but when he tried to fly upwards into the sky. He was suddenly stopped by the same green annoyance. He was grinning up at him, holding up his arm. A red chain formed of immoral chaos energy was shackled against his wrist. The chain was linked to Dark's, another red chain appearing on his own gloved hand, until it faded away. He scowled with great fury, his animosity alone was enough to rumble the ground again. " **Of course. I cannot be freed until I've served _him_ again. Very well.** " Dark Sonic dropped back down onto the ground with seething white eyes.

"Don't worry baby, all you gotta do is help me kill anyone who's still breathing." Despite his warning from earlier, Scourge once again got closer to the entity and placed his hand on his muzzle. "I'll free you no problem. Just give me a hand and you can do whateeeever you want." He tilted his head. "Deal?" After hearing once again no response from the super form, Scourge then turned around and pointed behind Shadow and Zonic. He was directing his attention towards anyone behind them who were still hiding. "They're all waaay in the back. Just remember everything that's pissed you off today and use that to kill 'em." Then, a thought occurred to him. "Hold on a sec, you're not really Blue, are you? So what makes _you_ mad?"

Shadow was already using this chance to back away while being on guard. He was going to tell Zonic to run, until the commander was pulled and seemingly dragged by nothing. He was dragged through dirt and grass, yelping as he hit the ground and thrown towards Sonic's anti-double. A red chain appeared on his wrist as well, and one appeared on Scourge's other hand. Shadow nearly forgot about that, he had trapped the commander with him a while ago, too. That meant he was still under his capture. Scourge bent down and pulled Zonic by the back of his spines, not caring if he was stabbed by them, and yanked him up on his feet. He put a firm grip on his neck, holding him closely with a sneer.

"Did you forget, Stripes? I got both Zonic and Blue on my side. Well," He glanced over at Dark with an unsure frown. "Not really, but kinda," He then looked back at Shadow. "So you're all alone-"

The dark form began to whisper. " **...What makes me angry...?** " He asked to no one. " **The fact that I'm still enslaved by _one of you..._** " He hissed. " _ **You...!**_ " He screamed to the heavens. " **I'll destroy _ALL_ OF YOU!** "

"No, Sonic prime, don't-!" Zonic tried to say.

Dark Sonic turned his head towards the lieutenant general, and his white glowing eyes only illuminated his figure even more, ominously. " **I will start with you first.** " He declared darkly, snatching him from Scourge's hold. He shoved the blue hedgehog onto the ground, flat on his back. He stepped over him, before beginning to kneel down. Zonic's eyes widened, fearing his own twin was going to kill him right here and now. He could hear Shadow yell for Sonic to stop, but he wasn't listening. The super form raised a hand in the air, and Zonic looked away from his impending doom. Feeling no pain soon after, he steadily opened his eyes back at his twin above. It was only to see that Dark Sonic, was making a melancholy expression. Why was he looking at him like that? " **You poor, sad mortal,** " He whispered as he caressed the side of Zonic's muzzle with one hand. " **You wish to be reunited with your love, don't you?** "

"...S...Sonic-"

" **Two thousand and twentieth generation, Grand Overseer Zonic,** " The dark being addressed formerly. " **I will grant you what you desire most.** " He then slowly placed his gloved finger tips over his eyes, gently closing Zonic's eyelids. He even tucked his arms above his chest, as if he was lying dead for a funeral. " **I will give you what you want.** "

Zonic's dark green eyes opened once more, and they became a solid, soulless black. As if he was no longer present in the world, he laid silent.

The super form then put his hand over his face, covering it completely before muttering, " **Dark Coffin.** " Both Scourge and Shadow watched in alarm as a dark ball of energy appeared, and circled around Zonic. It trapped him inside of it, and began to shrink until his body molded in it's sphere perfectly. Dark Sonic stood up from his work, before glaring back at Shadow. " **These Overseers, even now they are all painstakingly ignorant to the powers we possess. He will be living his best nightmare, over and over again. A replay of his most wonderful dream come to life, warped into a despair and rage inducing end result. Repeating, repeating, until his soul falls into a void of misery. And you,** " He pointed directly to the red striped hedgehog. **" _You,_ are next if you continue to stand in my way."**

The green hedgehog scratched the side of his head, then shrugged. That worked for him. He chuckled at Shadow's misfortune, and he almost pitied him. "I mean, seriously. Unless something hopelessly unpredictable happens, you're all screwed dude."

Shadow's red eyes trembled.

Sonic and Zonic were both gone.

He was alone.

* * *

"Are you positive the commander will be okay, Colonel Zector?" A soldier asked, sitting on the roof next to the turret of the mobile. Zespio sat beside Zector, who was in the driver's seat. All the other pilots were flying away back to HQ, but Zespio decided to stay with Zector for support. Other soldiers were inside the car with them, peering out the windows like sentries. Other army vehicles were behind them or next to them, driving in the same direction into town. Thank goodness the civilians evacuated when they did. Whenever an army or military drove into a city, it meant only one thing: War. Panic would have rose, causing even more havoc. They didn't need anything else distracting them.

The crocodile smirked and nodded as he drove the No Zone vehicle. "That's our Lieutenant General you're talkin' about, of course he'll be fine! He's the boss for a reason, ya know." He said confidently. "But not just him, Sonic and Shadow prime are gonna win for sure. I know it." He said. He glanced beside him to see Zespio smile and nod back towards his partner. Letting him know that he completely agreed. Nothing would stop those two, they were an excellent team. That, on top of their boss helping them, it'd be a sure victory. It probably wouldn't be easy, but they both had a good feeling about this. Zespio held up a fist, silently showing off one of their salutes. The men in the car cheered, and did the same. Soon, every vehicle was cheering, pumping their fists in the air. Their cries echoing throughout the empty town.

They all had hope.

...

"...The hell?" Zector murmured. What was that rumbling?

The ground below them was starting to shake more and more. The vehicles were all shaking as they drove. Soon, Zector failed to keep a steady hold on the wheel. Then, the car made a slight bump and they all felt a lingering vibration surge below their feet. Was that an explosion? One of the soldiers gasped as they looked out the windows. Suddenly, the soldier sitting atop their vehicle from before, fell onto the hood. It startled the crocodile, nearly flying off of the road as his vision was obscured. The soldier's body fell and flung away from the vehicle's speed, making Zector watch in horror. Was he dead? He hoped not but why did he fall like that?

"Sir!" One of the soldier in the car cried. "Floor it!" He yelled.

"What-"

Zespio seized the wheel and stomped his own foot on the gas. " _Floor it!_ " He screamed.

Black and orange smoke drifted into the air, explosions littering the route for the surviving No Zone soldiers. Something was causing the planet to shake every so often, and the quaking felt like it was getting closer. The line of cars following the colonels were flinging and flying away, screams of terror fading as soldiers were tossed away. Something was charging towards them, something bad. Loud stomping was heard, and it sounded like they were the reason why the ground was shaking. Through the dust and smoke, they saw a silhouette of a Mobian. The same silhouette they saw in the sky before escaping from the battle ground. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and that white moon in the sky was pulsating into their eyes. Zector could feel his eyeballs burning, and he looked away while crying out in pain.

A hedgehog who looked eerily similar to their commander and their champion, sprinted towards them above mach speeds. That navy, almost black fur, along with white glowing eyes was staring directly at them as he came even closer. In under seconds, he kicked and simply smacked away any vehicle that were too close to him, before making his way towards them. A simple touch from his finger, sent the vehicles flying hundreds of yards away. The crocodile's face was riddled with fear, but they couldn't falter now. He looked back at the road and took the wheel from Zespio. He briefly looked at the chameleon before glancing at the rear view mirror. "Zespio, you gotta shoot that thing!" He cried. "That can't be Sonic prime or boss, you gotta get rid of it!"

Without words, Zespio ran from his seat to kick the ceiling hatch open. He hopped out onto the roof of the car where the turret sat, and got behind it to get it ready. He heard it charge up, and it's line of bullets click from the inside. Zespio grabbed hold of it's triggers, and aimed for the dark deity. He began shooting at it, to which it easily dodged. As if it teleported from side to side, it was like he was never there. He then appeared beside the vehicle, looking to the side at the driver's seat. The crocodile flinched at his appearance, but tried paying attention to the road instead. "Sir, look out!" A soldier pointed to the hedgehog outside. "Drive away-!" Dark Sonic struck his elbow into the side of the military car. It stumbled, and it's tires struggled to stay on track. It spiraled around the road, until it eventually flipped over, flinging off road like the others. Zespio was tossed off, falling onto the hard ground from a high distance. Once the vehicle made impact with the ground, black smoke emitted from inside.

Dark Sonic never turned back as he moved.

"Stop right there!"

What, there was more of them? He turned a little to look behind himself. Puny mortals on their No Zone motorcycles, blasting off towards him with aiming weapons. The soldiers were willing to die for their leader that badly? Fine by him. He was going to fully turn around to blast them all with his own power, until he felt something trip underneath his feet. Dark Sonic misstepped, and fell forwards. They used those chaos disrupting lasers on their wrists, right at his legs. However, he was stronger than their half assed excuse for modern technology. He stomped his foot behind the other into the ground to stop himself from falling forward, and swung his arm from behind to turn around while shooting energy from his palm. The chaotic blast nailed the lead driver first, the radius exploding and causing the others to fall from their bikes hundreds of feet away. He was going to continue to run after that, until he saw something move in the distance. That crocodile from before was on the dirt road, blood dripping down his face as he struggled to get up.

He was at least a mile away, but it didn't take Dark Sonic long to reach him. He stood over him and the wreckage of his car. The other soldiers that were with him were unconscious, scattered all over the area. That's when the hedgehog made a sympathetic look in his empty eyes. " **You poor mortal,** " He slowly rose a hand above him. Zector managed to open one eye at him while groaning in pain. Debris fell off of his tattered uniform as he tried to move. He saw the hedgehog above him drift his fingers to his irises. " **A Dark Coffin awaits you-** " Then he stopped. With a confused look, Dark Sonic looked at his own palm in puzzlement. Something was holding him back. But what? It better had not been his host interfering with his control. " **Ugh, damn you..!** "

"Sonic!" Shadow hollered angrily in the distance as he skated towards the wreck.

With a scoff, Dark just put his hand down and stood up, but didn't turn his way.

The ultimate life form fused powerful energy into his hand, before charging towards his lover. That's when, in a split nano second, Dark moved to look in Shadow's direction. He smiled before Shadow could strike him, and effortlessly moved to the side from his attack. Realizing his blow hit nothing but air, Shadow attempted to turn around, but he was too slow. Dark Sonic seized him from behind, wrapping both arms around his torso, with one of them reaching to seize his wrist. He was gripping the very hand that was holding that power trapped in his palm. Shadow tried to struggle out of his hold, but Dark was ultimately physically superior in this form. " **You are weak, Project Shadow. You're a former monster who tried to plague my host's world with despair, and death. All in the name of a girl who didn't even wish for it, and a pair of creators who were so caught up in their own rage, they used you to accomplish that. You didn't learn your lesson the first time,** " He squeezed his arm against his chest even more to take the wind out of him, pushing against his rib cage. And then, suddenly, blades of chaotic energy stabbed through Shadow's chest from the front. Was that his own form of Chaos Spears? Shadow couldn't even holler in pain, that's how surprised he was. He didn't think he'd stab him like this, right through his chest and out of his back. At least seven of these things were protruding through his body. Soon, they faded away into dark embers of light, but the pain and wounds soon appeared not a moment later. Shadow was in so much pain, he couldn't even breathe, or else it'd make things worse. " **So you went back for more from your second creator, wreaking even more havoc.** "

Shadow's eyes blinked several times as images began to flash through his mind, involuntarily.

* * *

 _"S-Shadow, why? Why are you siding with them?"_

 _"Siding with them...You're joking, right? I'm just siding with whoever_ _goes up against you." He tilted his head. "And you're next, Sonic."_

 _Sonic's fears turned for the worst. "I didn't wanna have to do this buddy," He said tenderly with a determined expression. "But if that's how it is...Fine, I'll bring you back to the way you were!" Even as his body was battered, bloody and beaten, he'd still fight for him._

 _He'd fight to keep that good side of him. To keep that small glimmer of light alive._

* * *

" **You've caused my host so much pain through your own pathetic turmoil. Then you have the audacity to fall in love with him, when all you do is cause even more pain? You took the very thing that created his persona, the essence of freedom and purity...!** " The dark form snarled. His own dark chaotic energy acted as poison and electricity all at once, surging through Shadow's body like a cable box. The hedgehog cried out from the pain, shaking in his hold. " **And even now, you still treat him as an inferior, even betraying him by lip locking with his own generation's Overseer?** " A bone chilling rumble of laughter slipped from the hedgehog's lips. " **Your laughable excuse for a relationship is over.** **My host will mourn you, but he'll be happy to know that _we_ killed you ourselves!** "

Zector watched with great concern at the striped hedgehog's futile attempts to get away, until he was forced to the ground on one knee. Dark Sonic smirked evilly as he tightened his hold on his arm, until he jerked it backwards. Shadow screamed in pain, doubling over as he tried blocking out the pain of his now broken arm. He let go of his now useless arm, and gripped it against the project's neck. He was going to snap his spinal cord as well, until a certain glint shot through Shadow's ruby eyes. "Chaos Lance!" With an amused expression, Dark Sonic watched as his abdomen was stabbed directly through his chest. He instantly let go of Shadow, backing away a few steps at a time as his wound slowly began to close around the lance of chaos energy stuck in his body. He growled silently. He didn't have time to toy with him right now. He then simply turned his back toward them and sprinting off to the city.

Once he was gone, Shadow dropped down to both knees, holding his arm in agony. He quietly moaned in suffering, clenching his eyes shut.

* * *

 _The blue hedgehog couldn't stop smiling. "I love you."_

* * *

 _Shadow found himself smiling again. "I love you."_

 _The hero grinned in return. "Love you too."_

* * *

He gripped the head of his fur with his good arm, gritting his teeth furiously. He said he loved him. He said he loved him first, so why? Why was he hurting him? Why did he find joy in hurting him? Why did he enjoy hurting innocent people? Shit, was this how Sonic felt when Black Doom brain washed him into thinking that conquering everything, even Mobius itself, was his only purpose? When he beat him to a pulp, until he broke him out of it by saying those key words all those years ago?

* * *

 _"Shadow, please!" He held out his hand to Shadow, his palm open and welcoming. His peach arm had jagged cuts all over, bleeding from the result of chaos spears striking his body. His legs were wobbling, and he could barely stand. "You don't have to do this anymore. I'm here for you! I told you that, and I'm keeping my promise. So please," He shook his head. "Stop this. Be a good person, I know you still have it in you!"_

"..."

 _"Black Doom is gone, he's dead. It's over. You've won, there's nothing more you need to do!"_

 _The comet was destroyed, Black Doom was annihilated. But he had the power to destroy everything else, he could do it right now if he wanted to. He had the emeralds, he had Mobius' demise in the clutches of his hands, and he had their hero bleeding out on the floor in front of him. He could kill him. Kill him and reign supreme over everyone. But why was he hesitating? Why wouldn't he do it? Why was he hearing him out?_

 _"Sha...Dow.." He was losing consciousness quickly. "Please," He begged him. "I..." He was still reaching for him._

 _This power in his chest, it didn't feel like Black Doom's influence-_

 _...It felt, holy. It was holding him back._

 _Was that, his super form?_

 _Or was that **her**?_

* * *

Sonic was the one who got through to him, and made him stop his onslaught. He helped Sonic get back to Mobius, but he never knew why. Falling from the ark, and then the comet incident, made him open his eyes. Sonic shined a light through him that stopped him from becoming someone who he no longer recognized. He reformed him, he made him a better person before it was too late. He tried to help him, a stranger, so much in very little time. That was why he grew close to him. But he fell in love, because he just made him happy.

And now, all of that seemed like nonsense. It seemed like everything they've gone through together was for naught. That their love was nothing, meant nothing. He knew that Scourge's ability had hypnotized him into turning, but the Dark Sonic they were seeing now had a mind of it's own. Perhaps Scourge was the one who forced him to go into a stronger form but, even he seemed surprised by it. He could barely even control it. Did Sonic let that dark form influence him and take over? Was he _that_ angry with him? Shadow just continued looking down. This was all hopeless.

He was powerless against a super form, and he couldn't fight Scourge at this rate. Zonic was under Dark Sonic's spell, and almost all the No Zone soldiers were once again wiped out from that assault alone. It's not like they could contact anyone else for help, and he couldn't just run away, not that he could. He had a broken arm, and right now, a broken heart. It was over, there was nothing he could do.

Nothing.

 _Your love for him truly is weak if you're this quick to give up on him. Perhaps I should have chosen a better b...er._

"Huh? You again..?"

 _You mortals are wearing me thin, but I need him to return to me. I will lend you some of my energy, but do not waste it. This is the only and final time I will help with this battle. I've absolutely no power to spare any longer._

His body was healing tremendously all of a sudden...! "The hell!?"

 _And please, do not believe the words of the dark one. They only speak out of spite, like most angered spirits do. My host loves you, and you need to be the one to bring out his light, as he did for you. Bring it out._

 _Break,_ me _out._

And the voice was suddenly gone.

* * *

 **END - 32**

 **Not everything is what it seems.**


	37. 1,000 Knives

**Warning, small lemon.**

 **33 - 1,000 Knives**

* * *

 ** _Around Fifty Years Ago_**

 _It was story time. A hobby of hers she liked to do to pass the time. She used to do it by herself, but now that she had a friend with her, she could finally read to someone else for a change. They were at the final chapter, nearing the final paragraphs of the story. It was almost over, but she'd end it with Shadow. He found story time with her interesting and even fun. The bracelet her grandfather made him wear was glowing green. He was always content with her around, and that in turn made her happy._

 _The girl with long blonde hair flipped to the last page of the old thick book, her frail fingers finding the very last paragraph. she pointed towards it, helping herself by guiding her gorgeous cerulean blue eyes to the very word she left off at. The black hedgehog beside her glanced at the book's words, before looking back up at her. She pushed some of her hair from out of her eyes, and cleared her throat to begin reading. "Ahem," She smiled at Shadow briefly before speaking._ _"The gracious knight in silver, struck down the large beast with his Spear of Might. The spear tore through the beast's throat, completely ripping it apart. The monster made one last swipe at his chest, destroying his armor. But the knight completely decapitated it, and tore open it's flesh. It's purple, nasty evil heart fell to the ground. It's murky blood infesting the earth below, turning grass into thorns and flowers into weeds. Darkness seeped from it's corpse, and the knight had won." She could feel Shadow growing impatient to the ending. With a small chuckle, she continued. "He called out to the princess, begging for her to jump from the deteriorating tower. With a brave yelp, she hopped off the ledge of the ruined castle tower window pane, descending down quickly to her knight. The brave older man held out his arms, and she landed in his hold with a soft impact. He placed her down on her feet with the last of his strength, before whispering, 'You will live, milady, and you will rule with a powerful kindness. My lovely daughter, farewell.' And with his final breath, he fell on his face. Blood pooled from his abdomen, and spread onto the grass. The great knight, was dead. His daughter, the fateful princess soon to be crowned queen, knelt by his side and cried against his body. She vowed to rule in his name, to make him proud of her even from afar in the heavens above." The girl closed the book and placed it in her lap. "The End."_

 _Shadow seemed, unsatisfied with that. He just furrowed his brows and shook his head. "No, that doesn't make any sense."_

 _The teenager shrugged with a sheepish grin. "E-Err, well, that's fairytales for you. The original ones aren't very child-friendly, and almost none of them have a true happy ending."_

 _"I know that," Shadow said. "I mean, why did the knight risk everything just to save her? He ended up dying in the end, making her mourn her father's death indefinitely." He crossed his arms. "Maria, please explain this to me."_

 _Maria poked her fingers together. "Um," She looked around the room surrounded by large windows to look for the answer. Then, as she stared out into the glass, she saw the stars surrounding the ark. Space was so beautiful, but also very wise in a strange way. Billions and trillions of planets, stars and warp holes just begging to be researched for it's individual history. It was like she could find all the answers, just by looking at the burning embers of the red giants that were light years away. "Shadow, when you love something, truly,_ truly _love something," She slowly turned back to him. "You do crazy and, really stupid things just to protect it. You won't care what you risk, even if it's your own life, or the end of the world. You just want that thing or person to be happy, to be safe, and it won't matter if it kills you. So long as they get to live, nothing ever matters." She grasped the hand that wore her grandfather's bracelet, and placed it in her own. "That goes for family, for mothers and fathers, for lovers...Even best friends." She smiled warmly at him._

 _The ultimate life form still seemed lost. "I, don't understand."_

 _"That's okay," She replied softly. "Grandfather says he didn't mean to give you emotions, but he also said it was a good thing that you do. One day, I think you'll fall in love. Then you'll understand everything perfectly."_

 _"Fall in love? Are you sure?"_

 _"Mmhm!" She booped his nose with her pinky. "Positive."_

* * *

 _"Maria..!"_

 _"I'm sorry Shadow, but you have to live," She shoved him in the pod, without her. "You just have to!" Even as she was shot in the heart, even as blood splattered on the glass of the pod right over Shadow's face, she still smiled at him. Even as tears spilled out of her eyes just as much as crimson spilled from her chest, she slid down the dashboard with that emotion in her hazy ocean eyes. "...Sayonara..." She could barely speak, her oxygen was depleting. Shadow's bracelet was red, but it malfunctioned and sparked as his emotions rose to an unstable level. He watched his best friend die right in front of him. "..Shadow..." She fell down, and she was gone._

 _The pod shot off into space._

 _Shadow was gone._

* * *

 ** _Current Time_**

 _She did something stupid, and she risked her own life and lost it in the end, just to ensure the safety of someone else._ _The safety of someone she loved._ _She never gave up until she died._ _And this, this was why Sonic reminded him of her so God damn much._

 _It was like the two were the same entity, or reincarnated into different bodies._

But no, Maria's influence, her essence resided within the ultimate life form. She was still here, literally inside of his soul. The light Sonic used to awaken him from his dark dream, would be the very thing that would help him wake up Sonic. Their Super forms were still gone, but he could still feel her call out to him. Super forms weren't just transformations, they were actual living things that helped them fight. He finally, truly understood what their purposes were now, after all this time. Maria was his super form, and he needed her now more than ever.

That strange voice from before that healed his body, it complained about becoming even weaker by helping them during the war. He didn't like taking orders from random people, but this was his only chance.

This wouldn't last long, so Shadow had to do as he was told and make it count!

His arm was no longer broken, that health depleting darkness was no longer infecting him. The shocking energy was gone, and he could move again. He needed to find Sonic, and fast. He had an idea, but he had to work quickly. He looked at Zector while moving his previously broken arm carefully. "You, get your comrades and evacuate immediately. This still isn't over!" Shadow sonic boomed away, leaving dust to blow in the crocodile's face. He coughed and hacked, rubbing the dust from his eyes as he stood up with a battered body. Evacuate everyone out of the city? Sure, he'd do that. He looked over at Zespio and his unconscious soldiers. He had another idea in mind, though. And they'd need HQ to go through with it, if he himself didn't pass out first.

Shadow ran full speed towards Dark Sonic's overwhelmingly devastating energy, with powers charging in his hands. He'd do what he did before, but he had to be clever. This wasn't Sonic he was fighting, this was a completely different entity. An ancient being from thousands of years beyond Shadow's own existence. They were probably just as old as Solaris, older than Black Doom. They were intelligent, nimble-minded, powerful in both body and mind. Shadow had to be careful with this one. This would be his one and only chance to get Sonic back, he couldn't screw this up. He finally made it back inside of the city, where Dark Sonic previously ran to.

Just as he skid to a halt on his skates, he cautiously looked around for his former partner. His senses were high, he needed to be alert. He then heard a whistle, and got in a fighting stance while looking in the sound's direction. Ahead of him, was Scourge sitting at a cafe shop in it's outdoor dining sets, whistling a song while kicking his legs and picking his nails. He glanced at Shadow and made a small wave. "Hey." He said with a bland tone. "Ya know, people forget the classics. Psycho was okay, sure, but Twisted Nerve was a thousand times better in my opinion."

What was he even talking about-

He didn't care. He needed to find Sonic. "Where is Dark Sonic?"

"Over there.." Scourge pointed without looking behind him. But there was nothing there. Shadow looked from behind, but he wasn't there trying to make a sneak attack. Lightning struck from afar, which surprisingly startled Scourge. He whimpered and instantly hid underneath the table. Strange, was he afraid of lightning and thunder like Tails? Huh, they truly were opposites. But this meant only one thing, that Dark was nearby. Shadow's nerves were increasingly higher, he couldn't calm himself down. Where the hell was that damn hedgehog? The sound of loud, quick stomping footsteps trampling the ground caught his attention. A whir of dark blue sped right passed him, instantly making Shadow run after him as well.

Dark Sonic was on the move, but to where? Where the hell was he running to? Shadow didn't care, he just needed to grab him! From behind, Chaos Spears shot down but missed their target since it moved too quickly. Shadow tried once more, aiming for his legs this time. He held his hand up, chaos energy surrounding him. "Chaos Spear!" He threw them down once more, several shards of chaos shooting down upon the dark one. Dark Sonic teleported side to side to dodge. More shot down, this time aiming for his more vital areas. The entity dodged once more, and covered the back of it's neck as a spear nearly grazed it. Shadow caught this, finding this interesting. Why did he cover his neck? Another spear came down upon him, flying right for his head. This caused the dark hedgehog to move his cranium and turn around to skid to a stop, by bending forward and planting one hand on the ground.

Shadow knew that this would be his chance. "Increase," He commanded the spears to change shape and multiply. Now, dozens upon dozens of Chaos Spears clouded the dark eerie skies above. Like bacteria, they doubled over and over, until all one could see was a plethora of chaos formed spears. "Chaos Rain!" He brought them all down with a flick of his wrist. Dark Sonic watched with amusement at this attack, sitting completely still even as the spears came down upon the planet like meteors. But just before any of them could touch him, Dark Sonic flipped into the air and levitated. He opened his sharp fanged mouth, and a ghastly dark blue inferno of flames invaded the air. His spears were all burnt with navy aura, and they soon disintegrated towards the dark being's body. He was absorbing the power of all of his spears in the palm of his hand. In just an instant, they were all gone. Their power, Shadow's power, was now his. Dark Sonic then aimed for Shadow, and began flying at full speed towards him.

Shit, Shadow didn't expect him to do that. He figured he'd pull something else, but he couldn't dwell on that for long, he had to move. He dodged the flying hedgehog, and managed to barely block a flying ax kick from above. Now it was his turn. Shadow could run down town, get some distance. He huffed and put one leg behind the other. In a green flash, he chaos controlled away deeper into the city. He ran as fast as he could, as he knew Dark Sonic would gain up on him soon. He was nearing some tall buildings, making it so that flying would be an issue. He could lose Shadow if he flew too high and missed him thanks to having to dodge a sky scrapper or two. He'd get him quicker on foot. Just as he predicted, Dark Sonic made a hard landing from behind him in a dark blue flash of chaos. He sprinted alongside him, getting closer and closer. Shadow thought fast and shot his hand towards him with an open palm.

"Chaos Blast!" A large energy beam shot through and blasted at the dark hedgehog, who merely canceled the attack by seemingly swatting the blast away. It dispersed into nothing, leaving Shadow vulnerable. Dark Sonic swung his hand and struck the ultimate life form across the face, knocking him into the very spa that they first encountered Scourge in. His head collided with the building structure, bricks and glass shards falling beside him as blood, scratched and bruises formed over his entire body. He sucked in a deep breath, not daring to make any noises of pain. Before he ruined everything, they had a date here once. It was nice, relaxing, even fun.

Being with that Blue idiot, was fun. And if he wanted to spend time like that with him again, he'd have to snap him out of this first. He wasn't going to give up just yet.

Shadow shakily held up his hand, and shot another Chaos Blast and a Chaos Lance after. Dark Sonic dipped his body to dodge the blast, and swung his arm down to catch the lance. It cut his hand, but it healed instantaneously. He tossed it directly at Shadow, that just barely missed his shoulder and struck inside of the window of the spa. Shadow tried once more, gaining a little more energy to spawn more spears. After he threw it at his former lover, he tried standing up. Dark Sonic teleported and dodged them all easily once more, before eyeing the last spear coming towards him. He grasped it and tore it in half as chaos energy disappeared into the air. He continued to run and charge after Shadow, sprinting like a track runner as energy engulfed his entire body. Shadow's eyes widened. He was going to do _that._

Thinking fast, Shadow chaos controlled away just as Dark Sonic made an impact with the spa. A large explosion erupted in the city, destroying the building completely and damaging others. Appearing before the destruction, Shadow panted heavily, while holding his stomach. Using this much power, was tiring. Not to mention that voice's power from before was wearing off, Shadow's regeneration was no longer spiked up. Old wounds were starting to appear along with the new ones. He was going to pass out from this much blood loss at this rate. He grabbed at his wrists, where his inhibitor rings were. Damn, he lost Sonic again. Where was he this time? Shadow held his head up, looking in front of him. Just as if his wishes were answered, his former lover chaos controlled right above him. Floating in the air with not a scratch on him.

He drifted down and landed softly on the ground in front of Shadow. Thunder ruptured in the sky, the false moon brightly illuminating Shadow's eyes. Soon, he'd be his next victim. Shadow laughed with a scoff, guess this was it. He didn't have a choice anymore. Dark Sonic raised a brow with an unimpressed expression. " **...How strange. Are you laughing at your own demise, mortal?** "

The experiment gone wrong just laughed once again as he gazed into his lost lover's cold empty eyes. "No." He said. "I'm angry," He confessed. "Angry that you're forcing me to hurt you," His fists clenched, his knuckles cracking. "But I'll be damned if I let you hurt innocent people, and beat me again. I'm not gonna let this end like last time. So if I have to wake you up by using violent measures," His inhibitor rings fell to the ground, it's clanging sounds of golden metal echoing far and wide. "I have no problem doing that, even if I have to shed your blood."

Slowly, Dark Sonic made a terrifyingly cruel grin. " **How disgusting. Killing your own so-called lover just to put me down? Hahahahaaa..!** " He cackled loudly as he rose both of his hands at Shadow. " **You miserable creature disguised in Mobian skin,** " The darkness of his own negative chaos energy was making the world around them pitch black. Now it seemed as if they were the only ones here. " **You will rue the day you ever met this Chaos Born!** " Preparing to make a Chaos Blast of his own, it charged, targeting Shadow immediately.

"No," Shadow retorted triumphantly. "I don't think so." He smirked as he held up his hands to reveal his ring-free wrists to the dark entity.

Dark Sonic seemed confused at first, until he stifled another giggle. " **So you discarded your puny rings, what of it?** " The blast was becoming bigger and stronger, and he would release it soon. " **Quit stalling for time, and just accept your death!** " He cried as he shot his Dark Chaos Blast.

"Chaos Sheet!" Shadow yelled as a large pillar of red energy appeared in front of him. Just like a blanket, it shielded him from the dark power blasting his way. However, this wasn't for defense. The wall-like structure of the chaos ability began absorbing the blast, taking back all the energy Dark Sonic stole, and then some. This alarmed the entity, staring agape as all of his power in that attack just disappeared. Even if he was to absorb his power, no normal mortal could withstand the power of an entity. Those rings, they were sealing off the mortal's true abilities. Shadow moved his hand towards him, directing his chaotic powers to aim for him next. "Bind," He commanded. The thin wall of chaos swirled and instantly bolted towards Dark Sonic, wrapping him in it's essence just like a comforter. "Drain!" That is, until it strangled him like a boa constrictor, wringing him out of all of his power like a dish cloth. It was painful, and he couldn't move. This sheet was disrupting his flow of power, putting everything out of order. Him absorbing his power rendered him vulnerable and powerless for only a few minutes, but it was enough time to get him down. The darkness from before was gone, and Shadow could see their environment once more. Dark fell to the ground, growling and hissing in pain. Choking and hacking as his oxygen was nearly stolen from him completely.

Just as the Chaos Sheet dispersed, Dark Sonic stumbled backwards into a nearby building behind him. He ended up falling on his butt, leaning his head against the wall while panting. He was dizzy, in extreme pain, was having a hard time breathing, and his energy was gravely low. He rose his hand to his neck, covering it once more. Shadow, though weakened, still wasn't finished. He just walked in his direction, his eyes lowered and dead set on seeing his downfall. The entity was beyond angry. How dare this mortal treat him like some joke? How was a simple, phony mortal able to effect a deity to this extent? He wasn't through with him yet. All he had to do was regain some energy back, and- What the..? He couldn't form any chaos in his hand. God damn it! His host was holding him back again, he wouldn't let him use it! One more hit and Shadow would be dead, he was so close to killing him!

And his body-Why wasn't he healing faster? He was trying to slow his own regeneration, why was he ruining this?! Dark Sonic winced when he felt a looming shadow tower over his form.

Speaking of which, Shadow the hedgehog stood right above him. While clenching his teeth, Dark Sonic stood up on shaky feet. Shadow took one step back carefully. Dark tried to throw a punch, but Shadow just chaos controlled from his sight and appeared right behind him to kick him directly in the back. Absorbing Dark Sonic's energy thankfully gave him some strength back. Enough strength to end this once and for all. Just as Dark began to recover from the kick, Shadow just teleported in front of him and sucker punched his former lover directly in the face. Blood flew from his nose as a small cry of pain was heard from the dark form. It almost sounded exactly like Sonic. Chaos, he was in pain. His _real_ Sonic, he was hurting the real Sonic. But those glowing eyes clenching shut through the pain, it still wasn't him. Sonic still wasn't all there. Still holding his neck securely, Dark Sonic continued to taunt him. " **Y-You...You'll..never get him back...Y-You don't...deserve him..!** " He spat viciously.

"You're right." Shadow replied gently.

" **...?** "

"I don't deserve him, I know that." He looked down at his own hand, the very hand that used to wear that bracelet, and the hand that helped take Sonic's innocence just last night. "After everything I've ever done, I know I don't deserve to be happy, and I definitely don't deserve to be loved by someone like him. But, I didn't deserve Maria either. I didn't deserve Gerald, Rouge, the people of Earth, the people of No Zone...I don't even deserve to live right now. But, even as selfish as I may seem," He got down on one knee with a solemn, but determined look in his eyes. "Sonic wants me to be happy, and I want him to be happy. And I want him standing in front of me right now, not some cold, angry teenager with a God complex." Chaotic energy surrounded his entire body. "So you _will_ give me what I want, and I want Sonic! _Now give him back!_ " Dust flew from the ground as lights of chaos drifted in the air, glowing brightly around them. The energy that dispersed whenever Dark Sonic destroyed the chaos spears, never faded away. They were all still here. Every failed attempt, was still lying around them the entire time. Shadow had purposely wasted all of those attacks from before, just to wait for the right moment to revive them all again and use them on Sonic.

At least over a hundred spears used up from the left over energy that stayed drifting in the air, along with Shadow's and some of Dark Sonic's, was now formed into spears and lances. They were all aiming directly at Dark Sonic. With a shameful gaze, Shadow looked away as he sent the weapons of chaotic energy down upon his love. Steadily, Dark Sonic looked up at his imminent demise. He only stared with an unreadable expression. He didn't say anything, he didn't even sigh or make a sound of panic. It was like, he was ready for this. He then closed his eyes, and he let it happen.

He wouldn't even fight against it, why give up now? Why was he allowing this to happen?

Unless, that was just another trait to Dark Sonic.

 **Acceptance.**

Spears and swords left and right, blades made from painfully powerful chaotic energy swiped and slashed at him. Stabbing him, shanking him, tearing open skin and fur, blood splattering all over. His shoulders, his arms, his legs, his feet. His stomach, his chest, his quills, one of his ears, This was just like he did to him earlier, only a hundred times worse. He needed to stop him, this was the only way. He was too strong, too powerful to fight against. Dark Sonic would just heal and get up again, that's why Shadow needed to overpower him. To overload his body so it could burn out and no longer use his abilities to heal. He wished he didn't have to do it this way but, it was his only chance. Dark Sonic screamed, hollered, yelling in torment as he continued being stabbed over and over without end. It wasn't until he was finally stabbed in the hand, the very one covering his neck, that the attacks finally seemed to stop. Dark Sonic slowly let go of his neck, as his hand could no longer hide it from Shadow's eyes. He fell limp, and slouched against the wall. " **A-Ah-** " He exhaled as his head slightly tilted to the side, he began losing consciousness.

Slightly gulping, Shadow stood up to walk towards him. He could see all of his blood pooling around him, splattered on the concrete and debris. He looked horrible, he looked like he was in so much pain. And _he_ did this, _he_ hurt him. He, decimated him, mutilated him. Shadow refused to look away, he had to see what he did to him. A small punishment for hurting Sonic even further. He knelt down to him, raising his hands up to his bloody muzzle. He made him face Shadow, but his eyes were still closed. It didn't matter though-Wait, he was opening them. He was still miraculously conscious, but they were still glowing white. He weakly growled at Shadow, trying to form something in his hand, but he was too weak, and his host wouldn't let him use anymore power. Shadow caressed his face, and placed his thumb on his bottom lip.

Even cut up and scarred like this, he was still so beautiful to look at.

"It's over." Shadow whispered.

He placed one of his hands near Sonic's throat, energy forming on his fingers.

"So please," He leaned closer, parting his own mouth. His hand then closed around Dark Sonic's throat gently, the tips of his chaos filled fingers grazing his weak spot. This caused him to flinch against Shadow's hold. "Wake up, Sonic." Shadow pressed his lips against his lover's, the red glint that shined through his eyes once before disappearing. Quickly, his white empty eyes faded back to their lime green. The navy, almost black fur began to brighten. The dark aura surrounding his body imploded in on itself inside of him, and spread out into the world. It shot up into the air, dissolving into a brighter light that soon expanded and beamed across the globe. The darkness that loomed over No Zone began to vanish, and the bright false moon that glowed in the sky was soon gone. The lightning, the thunder, the dark clouds, all gone. Shadow let go of his throat, and used his hands to embrace his partner by the waist, pulling him in his lap as they both sat against the ground. The pure light that seemed to have cleansed the sky, dived back to it's originator, surrounding both hedgehogs in it's holiness.

" _I love you._ "

Scourge's control was destroyed, and interrupted Sonic's connection with his dark form.

...

...At least, that's what Shadow thought would happen.

Once he broke the kiss, he saw that the hedgehog below him seemed more at ease, but he was still in the same state. While his fur a bit lighter, it was still on the navy side. Even though his irises came back, they were still too dark to be considered a lime green. The dark energy surrounding him was gone for the most part, but Shadow could still feel it's essence. No, that entity from before was still here. It was still active, still very much alive. Shadow didn't understand, why didn't it bring him back to normal? The sky looked like it was back to normal but, things still weren't right. "How...?" Shadow didn't even finish his sentence. "Sonic, are you still there?" He asked with fear. Did he fail? Another kiss connected the two together once more, but by Dark Sonic's own volition. Shadow was put off by this. Was this the deity kissing him, or was this Sonic? Since he wasn't sure, he was almost glad the kiss quickly ended. The dark form caressed his bloody hand on the side of Shadow's face warmly, his eyes dreamily staring back at him. "Are you, Sonic?" The ultimate life form asked once more.

Once he was asked this, it seemed as if the being wasn't realizing what he was doing. He took his hand away from Shadow's face, looking down. " **Yes, and no.** " He replied. " **For now, we are both in control simultaneously.** " He touched his own lips tenderly. " **I could feel it all. You put everything you had into that kiss, didn't you?** "

Shadow let the entity go and narrowed his eyes. "...It was for _Sonic._ "

" **I understand.** " Dark Sonic winced as he tried to stand. Shadow helped him back up on his feet, and noticed Sonic's blood stained his gloves and shoes. He felt guilt rise in his chest. " **I also understand that unfortunately, this was the only way for you to stop me. He fought against me as well.** "

Ah, so that's why he let himself get stabbed like that, and why he kept hesitating at instantly killing Shadow. Sonic was forcing his control. If it wasn't for him, Shadow would probably be dead right now. Once again, in a way, Sonic saved his life.

His wounds began to heal on their own again, closing up all the cuts Shadow wrought onto him in that single onslaught. The blood on his blue body started to fade away, and he could feel his energy return to him. Now that he and his host were maintaining control together in harmony, there were no longer any restrictions on power. Shadow looked as if he was ready to pass out, and that wasn't good. After using all of that power, he ended up burning himself out. He looked as if he was one inch away from his own grave. They still had Scourge to deal with, he couldn't lose him now. " **Unfortunately, I do not possess the power to heal others. You'll die at this rate, and I even if I chaos controlled you over to the Overseer's medical ward back at his head quarters, you'd still end up perishing moments after I did so. Instead-** "

Speaking of which, they saw from a distance that Scourge was still nearby. Did he follow them here the whole time? And, it looked like he was still frightened from that thunder and lightning. He was covering his head, whispering curses and prayers as he stumbled down the destroyed roads of No Zone's city. "Please let it be over, let it be over..." He slowly rose his head up at the sky, and saw that it was no longer cloudy. He would have sighed in relief if he hadn't made a grave realization.

If the skies were clear, that meant that Dark Sonic was no longer on his side. Shit!

Scourge looked straight ahead of himself to see his favorite dark hedgehog staring back at him with a sharp glare. "H-Hey!" He waved his hand at him while jogging over. Dark Sonic protectively stood in front of Shadow. "What gives, baby? Why'd you stop the light show? I hope it wasn't 'cause of me, I can handle it! I promise, I-" He gasped sharply, covering his head again and wobbling over to the side. He almost lost his balance, ending up stumbling onto the wall of the nearby ruins of a grocery store. " _N..No..._ " He groaned. "Make it _stop..!_ " He cried before ramming his own head into the stone wall. Shadow cringed at the impact. Blood already formed from where he hit his head, that's how hard he struck himself. "Get it," He slammed his head into the wall again. " _Out,_ of my head...!" He did it again, and Shadow swore he heard a crack that time. "Dad, stop.. _Stop it!_ I've been good...Don't get the bat-!" He fell over on his back and rolled over to curl up.

"...The fuck?" Shadow glanced at Dark Sonic. "What the hell's wrong with him now?"

" **It's the demon, he's corrupting him. He's grown impatient.** "

"H-Hey," Scourge suddenly growled as he barely managed to sit up. "I can feel it, you're no longer in my control. Not that I had much to begin with, but I still had you!" He began to snarl angrily. "Let me guess, the power of love or some other bullshit broke you out of it, right? I'm so sick and fucking tired of that corny shit ruining what I planned! And it's all your fuckin' fault Stripes!" He pointed at Shadow, to whom Dark Sonic stepped right in front of with a threatening expression. Scourge clenched his teeth furiously. "I knew it. You've got him putty in your fuckin' hands! No matter what I do, even if I mind-fuck you, you still go back to him! God fucking DAMN IT!" He hollered, punching his fists into the ground. The impact blew anything nearby away besides Dark and Shadow. Traffic lights, plants, trees, they all flew away from his power. "It isn't fair. You were supposed to be mine. _Mine_ , damn it!" He stood up with a trembling stance, holding up his hand as his spiked baseball bat teleported into his palm. "I barely had control over you before since the real Dark Sonic came out, and I can't mind fuck deities in their true form. I can't control Stripes over there, his mind isn't vulnerable enough for some reason."

No, that wasn't it. Shadow felt like Dark Sonic was protecting his head as well from Scourge's power.

"But right now," Scourge grinned evilly as he stood up. "I'm stronger than _both_ of you, so I could just kill Stripes right here and kidnap you, Blue!"

No, he couldn't fight him. Not now. He was no match for him. And from what it sounded like, he was some how stronger than Dark Sonic as well. Stronger than a super form at it's strongest? Him? Soon, a black murky aura surrounded Scourge's figure, and his quills raised a little as a strong wind began to pick up around him. He wasn't even transforming, that was just his power. That disturbing evil energy, that was all his doing just now. Feelings of dread, misery, anger, and even sadism, all compiled into one being. Dark Sonic clenched his teeth, then looked to Shadow.

" **There's no more time. Shadow,** " He said, in a voice that sounded more like his lover.

It caught his attention. "Sonic..?"

Dark Sonic reached his hand out for him to take. " **Grab my hand, concentrate on only me!** "

 _"Please, it's me. Take my hand, I promise."_ What? He heard Sonic for sure this time, but Dark's lips didn't move. Was he hearing his lover's voice in his head? _"Shadow, you've got to trust us! Take my hand and concentrate on only me."_ Concentrate on Sonic, just Sonic. Not Dark, not Scourge, but Sonic. That wasn't that hard to do right? Just thinking about his face, his muzzle, his gorgeous blue fur, those meadow green eyes...His feelings for him, his love for him, his pride, his sense of justice. Yes, he focused on all of those things as he stared at Dark's hand. Perhaps he was growing hysterical because of his blood loss, but, he didn't mind. If he would pass out right here and now, he'd be glad that Sonic would be the last thing he thought of. He closed his eyes, and grasped Dark's glove with a weak hold.

Dark Sonic's eyes made a peculiar glint, and his own navy colored energy appeared around his arms and hands. Soon, his entire body was engulfed in this negative aura.

Scourge watched in astonishment. He was so shocked, he found himself smiling a little. "...No fucking way," He whispered while shaking his head. "I've done my research, so I know better." The anti said. "You and Blue already fused. That's what happens when a super form and a Chaos born work simultaneously, they work at full power. But, you can't fuse _two people_ with a super form, especially not a fake bio-hog like him! That's unheard of!" He started grinning wider. "But if it can be done-" He held his bat straight up into the air, before swinging it back down with extreme force. Swinging down into the air alone caused harsh winds to blow in all directions. "-I"m all for it!" He exclaimed while getting in a batting position. "Come on Stripes, show me what you got!"

Dark Sonic's body, almost like a pile of a dust, just disintegrated. As his body fell into pieces, it flowed and was absorbed into the black furred hedgehog's body. All of that dark aura, it was now surrounding his body from head to toe. Like a giant centipede, it crawled around his ankles and legs, wrapping around his torso and abdomen. His arms, constricted from it's overwhelming power. It wrapped around his neck, around his fingers, between his thighs. It invaded his entire body mass, covering him up entirely until Shadow became practically nothing but a silhouette. A surge of power flowed from within his stomach, traveling internally inside of his body.

It felt wrong.

It felt sad, it felt vengeful, it felt angry.

But it also felt **honest**.

Dark Sonic wasn't just an entity of dark power, it was a being that respected everything the hero fought so hard to hide. Shadow could feel it all. His vulnerability, his weaknesses, his emotional turmoils, his fear, his hatred, his guilt...Everything that Sonic would mask, that he would lie about to shield the world from his own fragile state of mind, it was all here. It felt honest, it felt true. Nothing was hidden, nothing was a lie. No doubts, no discrepancies. And most of all, no judgement. Just acceptance.

This was Sonic's true face underneath that mask of confident smiles.

This, was the heart of a hero.

As if he was asleep for thousands of years, Shadow opened his heavy eyelids slowly. Sweet Chaos, his body felt like it was freezing. That he was so frigidly cold, that it almost felt like it was burning. However, it didn't hurt. He wasn't in pain or even uncomfortable, no, he was enlightened. He felt, a sense of truth. Of wisdom. Like he could see the world for what it truly was. When Shadow was in his own super form, he only felt powerful and more, for lack of a better term, responsible. But this? He could feel so many negative yet realistic emotions, that he just felt confident. This must have been the essence of Dark Sonic's power.

He looked down at his hands, seeing that his gloves were still there. Okay, these were his arms, and his rings were still gone. His legs, shoes, yup, he looked pretty much the same. Except, his fur seemed to be even darker than before, if that was even possible. His red stripes were almost gone, the bright redness in them fading into a harsh wine. The aura he was giving off wasn't only navy and murky looking, he saw a deep, almost brownish red colliding with it. And his eyes, they were no longer red rubies, they were a deep glassy crimson. His wounds were gone, and he no longer felt weakened.

His black ear flicked at the sound of a loud and drawn out whistle. "Well hot damn!" Scourge smirked. "You really did it, Stripes. You merged with a real Chaos Born, and a Divine Spirit." He got up from his batting stance and leaned the weapon onto his shoulder. He put his other hand on his hip, making a condescending smile. "Good for you, you managed to win over my future wife and one of the bastards I'm trying to murder." He gave a round of applause with a few more whistles. "Too bad for you though, I'm still gonna kill all three of ya in one go."

 _He's bluffing,_ Shadow said to himself. As if Sonic and that dark deity were right there with him, he could feel a sense of agreement. Were they communicating with him in his own head? He felt another wave of satisfaction flow through his mind. That must have been a 'yes' from the both of them. Anyway, Scourge wouldn't kill Sonic, he was in love with him. However, Shadow knew this would still be a hard fight even with his new power. He was ready though. With his lover beside him in literal spirit, he had no doubt in his mind that he could win.

Scourge made a few practice swings with his bat, before taking a step forward while holding it with both hands, and charging directly at the Ultimate Life form.

* * *

 _ **Dark Coffin**_

 _That was the last thing he heard before Dark Sonic had put him in an unconscious state. Once he laid down and fell asleep, all he saw was Zhadow. They were in his apartment, in his bedroom laying on his bed together. His superior was on top of him, entering in and out of him. Zonic had his legs squeezed against his waist, his face covered by the back of one of his hands in sheer embarrassment. His face was red, flustered from the amount of force his lover was giving him with each thrust. Right now, they were not soldiers or comrades. They were not partners or allies of intergalactic militia. They were lovers, partners bonded forever. Zhadow huffed as he strengthen his power, moving even harder to make a rougher impact into Zonic's body._

 _He felt so good inside of him, he was so good at doing this to him. It felt good every single time, never once was he ever dissatisfied from his sex, even if it was directly after an argument. Hell, sometimes that made it feel even better. He gripped his black furred hands onto his hips, never breaking from his constant motions of humping him. They were both sweating, out of breath as they shook the bed violently against the wall. Zonic was so wet inside, and he was leaking precum from his member. Zhadow leaned down to kiss his lover on his neck, licking and biting at it. He nipped directly at the side of it, making a hickie on both his fur and his skin._

 _Zonic gasped as he felt something within him rise. He was so ready for this, so ready for him to finish inside of him. He rose his peach arms and wrapped them around his torso. He squeezed his gloveless fingers at his back, his bare legs spreading apart further instinctively. He moaned and panted, whispering for his superior to just do it. "Y-Yes...Yes...Right there..." He inhaled sharply as he hit his sweet spot. Zhadow moved closer to kiss him, moving his hips quicker as he felt his own climax coming. "Chaos...!" Zonic cried. Zhadow had lowered his hand beneath his stomach, grasping and rubbing his length. "Z-Zhadow-" He gasped. "Shit..." He whispered again. "Zhadow please..!" He begged. He would be the only person who would ever see him this vulnerable._

 _"Begging now?" The superior grunted as he shoved himself deeper inside of him. "You can do better than that, rookie. Scream my name." He jerked his member faster, earning a loud moan from the hedgehog beneath him. "Do it."_

 _"I-I can't-" Zonic's cheeks were so red, he was beyond embarrassed. "I-Aah!" He arched his back instantly from the surge of pleasure. "Zhadow..!" He hollered his name. He didn't give a damn who heard them next door, he screamed his lover's name as if his life depended on it. Once he did, he could no longer stop himself from losing control. He came all over his hand and knuckles, while his superior thrusted one last time. He released his essence inside of his body with a groan, making a low hiss as he felt his walls tighten on his member. "A-Aaah...Haaa...ah..." Zonic's body froze up, before dropping against the bed as if he was under paralysis. His chest heaved in and out, fighting for air after a workout of an intense love session._

 _Zhadow slowly pulled out, white dripping from both himself and Zonic's bottom. His hand was coated in his rookie's bodily fluids. He rubbed his peach arm affectionately, before moving and laying down beside him. He hugged Zonic closely, laying his head against his back and breathing in his scent. As they caught their breath, he rubbed his chest while Zonic closed his eyes and softly grasped Zhadow's hand. Then, his superior whispered something onto his fur. "I love you, Zonic."_

 _His heart skipped a beat. "...Wh...What did you say?" He murmured back while turning his head._

 _"I said I love you. Shame I couldn't say it to you before I was shot."_

 _"...Shot?"_

 _Zhadow nodded, pressing a small kiss onto his deltoid before speaking again. "Don't you remember? Anti-Sonic shot me in the head. Well, that's what he made me think. So technically, I put myself in a coma, not him. It's my fault."_

 _"No," Zonic let go of his hand and fully turned his body around to face him. He was still slightly out of breath, but he found the strength to dismiss such a lie. "It was not your fault, nothing was. It was my fault for letting you go without me." He made a solemn expression, furrowing his brows as he looked away from his gaze. "I, I could have done something-"_

 _"Zonic," Zhadow stopped him. "There was nothing you could have done against him. If you had joined me that day, we both would be in a coma."_

 _"Well maybe that's," The lieutenant commander couldn't believe he was saying this, but this was how he truly felt. "Maybe I'd rather that happen instead!" He exclaimed. "I'd rather die alongside you, than watch you rot in a hospital bed while I do nothing." His eyes watered, deep green eyes becoming glassy. "I should have told you, I'm so sorry." He pulled against the sheets to cover his face and wipe his eyes._

 _Zhadow made a sad smile and gently rubbed his fingers against his face. "You didn't have to say it. You never had to say it, Zonic." He caressed his face. "I already knew. And I know you knew too. You know how much I care about you, and I know how much you care about me. The funny thing is," He wiped away another tear that lingered from his cheek. "You already know this, too. You know we never had to say it, so why are you beating yourself up about this?"_

 _"Because I wish that was the last thing I said to you before you got hurt." Zonic softly responded as he sniffed. "We argued. That was the last conversation we had before you were shot." His voice was shaky and angry. "For something stupid, yelling at you for worrying about me. I was running myself ragged with work and studying, and you tried so hard to make me feel better." He shook his head and sat up in the bed. "Then, you tried to convince me to let you go out into Moebius' city, and I argued with you not to. You said I was worrying too much about you, and not enough for myself. In anger, I told you off. I told you, to go out there by yourself. It's my fault," He whimpered. "All my fault. And the last thing you get to hear from the person you love, is 'go ahead and get yourself killed. See if I care.' That was the very last thing I said to you. Don't you hate me for that?"_

 _His partner shook his head. "Of course not." He placed his hand on his thigh as he sat up as well. "There is literally nothing you can do to make me hate you. Not even if you pulled the trigger yourself."_

 _His chest became tight. He wouldn't have minded, even if he was the one who held the gun? Even if he was the one who directly and deliberately put him in the coma? He would have forgave him, even if he murdered him then and there in cold blood by his own hands? He couldn't stop the tears from falling, he couldn't believe he said that to him._

 _...No._

 _He_ couldn't _be forgiven. He didn't deserve to be forgiven-He should_ never _be forgiven!_

 _Never!_

 _Before Zhadow could embrace Zonic, his blue partner threw himself on top of him. He his arms stretched outwards to his neck, and his hands both closed around his throat to strangle him. "S-So," He stammered as his tears continued to fall. "Even if I did this," He squeezed his hands harder. "You wouldn't hate me?" He sobbed. "Would you!?" He screamed._

 _Zhadow couldn't even reply, he was struggling to gasp for air. He was trying to pull Zonic off, but he couldn't. Though he was physically superior, he didn't dare lift a finger to harm him just to ensure his own safety. This wasn't an evil Zonic, this wasn't an imposter, this was his real lover. And if he wanted to kill Zhadow even in his own right mind without any influence telling him to do so, he'd let him. Even fighting against his own animalistic instincts to survive and push him off, he let his arms fall to his side. He let Zonic strangle him to death. And then, he smiled at him, even as he saw black dots forming in his vision._

 _Zhadow smiled at him, even as he killed him._

 _With a sudden crack of his neck, his lover died instantly underneath him. He did this, he killed him by his own volition this time. Now it truly was his fault._

 _Rightfully, his fault._

 _Zonic covered his face with both of his hands, the hands used to murder him. He sobbed quietly into his palms, shaking as he realized what he just done._

 _He's watched this very scene play about thirty times, now._

 _No, why was he letting this happen. Why did he allow himself to do that? Why was he trying to go this far to prove that he was at fault for his comatosed state? He already accepted that it was his fault, so why was this regret killing him so much? Was he, going insane? Was he actually losing his mind, so much so that he was envisioning himself killing his own lover?_

 _There was something wrong with him, but he didn't want to see this anymore! Zhadow would disprove of this, and he refused to stay stuck watching him do this to him over and over! He'd never do this in reality, this had to be all a huge lie. This was an illusion, a fake memory forged by..._

 _...Dark Sonic._

 _This, was the reality of the **Dark Coffin** ability._

 _The very thing he should have studied more about while Zhadow was still alive. Though he finally learned a little too late, it didn't matter, because now he just had to fight it._

 _Zonic was determined, the scene before him disappeared as none of it was real to begin with. It was all in his head. But it was okay, because he accepted it. It was indeed his fault for getting Zhadow shot, it was indeed his fault that his Champion was in danger, it was indeed his fault that many of his comrades were dead. It was his responsibility as a commander, as a leader, as a Grand Overseer to shoulder all of the burdens and consequences that came with the job. **He accepted it** , he had to._

 _Zonic, though his tears were still falling, ceased his sobbing._

 _That power he felt before, that felt so similar to chaos energy, he would use it._ _He would concentrate, and use it to pull himself out of his funk._

 _It was the only choice he had._

* * *

 _Focus, breathe._

Focus, _breathe._

Focus, breathe.

That is what he learned about chaos energy through his studies in Chaos Born abilities. To activate chaos control, you had to already have such powers blessed within you. Then to proceed an attempt to control it, you had to concentrate and make steady breaths. If he was a skilled chaos user, he wouldn't have to do this, but considering he never used it before, he had to do this by the book. Still laying against the cold ground inside of an even colder coffin-like form of chaos power, his eyes stayed shut.

Focus, breathe.

Focus, breathe.

Focus...Focus, keep going.

Keep going-

He felt something warm drive throughout his body. Something was awakening inside of him. That feeling from earlier, about being so angry that he could use chaos energy, it wasn't just an exaggeration. This spark, this power, this seal falling off of a door of unleashed potential, it was erupting. He could feel it! His shoulders, his arms, his fingers, his chest, his stomach, his legs, thighs, feet and toes. It was all over him.

His eyes snapped open, that black darkness that was surrounding him instantly disappeared.

He looked around him, gaining feeling in his nerves once more to move. He sat up, turning his head around to see that the Dark Coffin was falling apart. That black energy that held him down before was going away, vanishing from the air as if it was never here. Did, did he really do it? Zonic held up his hands and stared at them. Did he just use chaos chaos energy? Or was that all a dream? He frowned, that didn't matter now. He had to get back to Sonic and ensure his safety. Shadow prime was going to get himself killed from the hero's hand, and he couldn't let that happen.

As he stood up, he saw that across the battlefield, were destroyed vehicles and bloodied grass. Bodies covered with sheets, metallic debris of iron birds and military cars laid across the field. He couldn't see any of his soldiers, not even the dead ones. He assumed his men went in and took their corpses back to base, leaving no man behind, even in death. He commended his men for that, that was the right thing to do. As for Scourge's men, he also assumed they were the dead ones still on the field, covered in white sheets. Zonic's men had the respect to at least cover them up, even if they were their enemy.

Then, he saw smoke in the distance. No, not smoke. That was chaos. Zonic narrowed his eyes, that was definitely chaos control spreading into the sky. That distance came from town. They must have took the fight there. Silently, the commander looked down below to glance at his boots. They looked like they were damaged but still in working order. He could still run at high speeds, he just couldn't fly. He'd make it there quickly either way.

Except, that's not where he was going to go.

No, he'd just get in the way. Besides, he had a much better idea. He turned around to his right to face the tower of his HQ in the distance, to where his surviving soldiers retreated to. That, is where he'd be running to.

Without another moment to waste, Zonic grunted and steadied his legs, before making a sonic boom off into the direction of No Zone HQ.

* * *

 **END - 33**

 **Accept reality and face the truth.**

 **Only then, will you be able to heal.**

 **But if you obsesses yourself in that truth, then...**

 _ **Then...**_

 **EDIT: Also, thank you for the review, Ayumi Shoko. I'm glad so many people are getting my DanganRonpa references. ;)**


	38. Fight To The End!

**34 - Fight To The End!**

* * *

The black and green hedgehogs clashed, their arms swinging back and punching into their fists at the same time. Power brutally traumatized the earth below them, the concrete and ground shattering upon impact. As they both held their tightened fists against each other, knuckles pushing against knuckles, Scourge leered the entire time. Shadow grunted, Scourge was strong. Sonic definitely wasn't exaggerating, this kid was a tyrant. Even in the form he was in now, Shadow was only on equal terms with him, he still wasn't stronger than him. In fact, he felt like he was still weaker. Realizing that this physical endurance game was going no where, Scourge snatched his arm back and quick stepped backwards. Shadow did the same, readying himself for another assault.

Scourge then held up his bat, making a rather composed and relaxed posture. He then simply swung the bat downwards. That simple action alone, caused a detrimental force of wind to strike right into Shadow, knocking him back with a startled yelp. It was like he charged up a bunch of nothing and just swung it at him effortlessly as a basic attack. Shadow didn't lose focus however, and recovered quickly by charging forward. He conjured up chaos energy in his hand, forming the shape of a lance. It's color was mostly black, some of it navy and some of it a murky red. Shadow then swung directly towards the green hedgehog, who with a straight face, easily blocked it. He didn't even bother to deflect or dodge, he just blocked it. Shadow continued swinging at the young adult, trying to move faster and swifter than Scourge could determine.

However, this was the mistake that Shadow made: Scourge was still both faster and stronger than him right now.

As he blocked every single swing of attack, even going as far as to slightly move his body here and there, he just mocked the ultimate life form. "It's funny," He said with boredom as Shadow couldn't even get the green one to flinch. "You managed to fuse with a Chaos Born and a Divine Spirit, and you're _still_ weaker than me. I told you so." Suddenly, right when Shadow made another swipe, Scourge was gone in the blink of an eye. He then reappeared only centimeters away from Shadow's personal space. The anti-double flipped his baseball bat the other way, the knob facing Shadow. He then gently tapped the knob against Shadow's chest, sending the black hedgehog hundreds of feet away.

He landed harshly into a grocery store, fruits and vegetables splattered and rolling all over the place. In the midst of all the dust of now even more destroyed debris of the building's structure, he could see the silhouette of Scourge coming right for him at a daunting slow pace.

Shadow clenched his teeth in frustration, he was right. He was still too weak to fight him. That was until he felt a change of gears turn in his brain. And, that wasn't him. That felt like something else. Suddenly, Shadow paused for a very small fraction of a second. The hold he was using for the lance changed, grasping the weapon of chaos energy like a sword. His body seemed to have been moving on his own, why was that? That's when he felt something speak to him. _"Let me take control of your arms for a bit."_ That was Sonic, he was making him hold the weapon like this. That's when Shadow steadily held the lance's handle more confidently, his knees slightly buckling down to get in a better stance for that of a true swordsman. _"I told you, I once went to a world where I had to learn how to use a sword like a real knight. Scourge is no push over when it comes to hand to hand combat, or using melee weapons. So if you wanna play toe to toe with this guy in the weapon's department, you gotta know how to duel properly."_ Shadow almost chuckled to himself. Once again, Sonic was teaching him something for a change.

Scourge narrowed his eyes with a frown as he stopped in his tracks. "The fuck was that? I could hear him."

He could hear Sonic too? That entity inside of him must have given him such powers. Didn't matter though, he was going down. With Sonic's influence along with Dark's power surging throughout the chaos weapon, Shadow jumped up and boosted himself directly towards Scourge at alarming speeds. _Too fast...!_ The anti yelled to himself. Using Dark Sonic's ability to fly for a short amount of time, Shadow floated to charge even faster and stronger against him. With panic, Scourge quickly swung his bat to counterattack Shadow's upcoming assault. They clashed once again, but this time on more common ground. Shadow was now stabbing, slicing, even mimicking moves of a fencing master. Hell, the ultimate life form himself seemed impressed by his own actions. He didn't realize Sonic was _this_ proficient in swordsmanship. Scourge was having difficulty keeping up, blocking and even trying to swing his bat in response to each attack, but he couldn't keep it up forever.

He was starting to get pushed back from how harsh Shadow's blows were, forcing him to just hold up his bat, using the base of it to block the majority of everything he hit him with. Shadow caught him off guard even more, now gracefully moving his body to make spinning and spiraling attacks with the lance of chaos. Scourge's blocking guard was broken, causing him to grunt while accidentally losing hold of his weapon and losing balance. Shadow took this chance to take control of his body once more. "I got this!" He yelled aloud, mostly for Sonic to give him back full control. His lover did as he commanded, allowing Shadow to take the lead for himself and move his body to a halt. He then took the lance and lifted his arms to do a full swing directly into Scourge.

The green hedgehog just barely dodge by using his own loss of balance to dive further backwards away from the weapon that nearly took his head off. Once Shadow missed, Scourge recovered to get back on his feet properly and summon his bat back to him. However, Shadow expected him to do this this time. He smirked, and pushed more of Dark's power into the lance. The lance became bigger, sharper, shaping it's self into a weapon with a much longer blade. One that resembled more like a sword. " **Dark Chaos Blast.** " He muttered, before activating a devastating slice and energy beam towards Scourge all at once.

Taking the impact of such power caused Scourge to be both sliced and blasted right out of the city square. After landing several feet away onto already destroyed concrete right onto his back, he made a brief cry of pain. And then, as Shadow quickly flew to his location before landing on his feet to walk towards him with that same chaos-sword, the green hedgehog laughed. With a small grin on his face, he ignored the blood dripping from both his mouth and his chest. Thankfully he had high tolerance to pain, otherwise he'd be screaming right now. He could feel that his spine didn't feel right either after landing that hard but, oh well. He then slowly got right back up on his own two feet, summoning another bat in his hand. He then put it in between his legs to hold it there while he rose his hands to his own muzzle. He cracked his own neck, and moved around his shoulders. Shadow watched with narrowed eyes as his enemy took the bat from in between his green legs and held it back up onto his shoulder as if everything was just as peachy as it was before.

He had a large gash on his chest, the one that Shadow made moments ago, and he was acting as if it was nothing. Scourge snickered a little more. "Things just got a little more interesting." He spat some blood onto the ground, then coughed out a tooth. The blood that he just spat out, and the blood dripping from his chest, Shadow realized...

...The blood was almost just as black as his own fur.

Before Shadow could draw any more conclusions, Scourge held up the bat in his hands like a major league player and sneered. "You've had your fun, now I'll have mine. Let's see how strong you three are against _this_." Without even moving a muscle, seven balls of bright red appeared in front of him. They were entirely made of corrupted chaos energy, not doubt from the demon. Scourge then swung the spiked bat into each of the balls one by one, putting enough force in each swing to make them shoot off like bullets directly towards Shadow. The sword of chaos disappeared, and Shadow crossed his arms over his face as a black force field shrouded him. The balls bounced off against the shield one at a time, and it seemed to be an effective defensive tactic. That was, until each hit slowly began to break the shield.

Shadow tried moving forward, but the balls of chaos followed his every move. He couldn't even get to Scourge if he wanted to, he'd be interrupted. Not only that, but they were very hard hitting. If Shadow took down the shield for a second and one of them hit or even grazed him, he'd be leaving this battle with broken limbs. Once the sixth ball hit, his shield was almost completely destroyed. As he waited for the seventh ball, he realized that nothing was coming. It's been a minute now, where was the last attack- "Ahh!" Shadow was battered directly into his back. The shield was immediately destroyed, and he fell forward. Before he could get back up, that seventh ball he waited for earlier struck him right in his head to force him right back down. That hit was so bad, Shadow saw stars and he swore he heard his skull crack. There were eight this entire time, he was tricked. Scourge then walked behind him, and held up the spiked bat. "You know what I'm gonna do to you, Stripes?" He asked casually. "I'm gonna beat the absolute fucking shit out of you, and I'm going to enjoy every single minute of it." He swung it down onto his body numerous times, over and over. Holding the bat up, swinging it down, it's spikes tearing into Shadow's fur and skin considerably every single time.

In a last ditch effort to get the green hedgehog to stop, Shadow summoned some large dark chaos spears in the air to shoot at him. This did cause Scourge to stop and deflect the spears away from him easily, giving the ultimate life form enough time to turn his body over and stretch his leg to kick Scourge right in the stomach. Another blow to his stomach, Scourge was getting sick and tired of that. Shadow was going to take another swing at him, until Scourge snarled and tackled Shadow down. His bat rolled over and laid beside their bodies. He swung his gloveless fists into Shadow's face over and over until blood coughed and spurted from out of the ultimate life form's mouth. Scourge then took a fist full of his white chest fur and stood up, yanking Shadow up in the air along with him. As he held him up, he made a dangerous angry glare at him.

"I'd almost rather you kick me in the balls a thousand times, before you punch me in my stomach."

"Fuck...You.." Shadow weakly retorted. "As if I give a damn...about your personal rules of a street fight.."

Scourge made a small laugh at that. "True, that does seem a bit ironic and hypocritical, only I don't give a shit." He hissed. "My tum-tum's a sensitive place, and I advise you to keep your hands away from it."

"It's a fight you jack ass! The hell's so special...about your stomach anyway?"

"None of your damn business," The young adult replied defensively. "Just stay away from it. If you hit me there again, I won't hesitate in killing all three of you for good. Would make my job easier anyway." He dangled Shadow above the ground just to piss him off a little more, as the black hedgehog grit his teeth in both pain and weakness. "Besides, I think you're just about done. Any last words before I knock you out and take you three to my lovely castle?" He asked with a small smile.

Shadow started to smirk and laugh as well. "Yeah, a few things actually..." He trailed off ominously, making Scourge rather intrigued. "You asked me how Sonic was in bed, right?" His laughter became a lot heavier, more dark. "Well you were right for the most part. He was tight, he was warm, he was _so good._ " He grinned even harder as Scourge's face turned monstrous. "We went at it all night, until he passed out from how hard I fucked him on that bed. He moaned and screamed my name, not yours." His hold on him was becoming gravely tight, but Shadow wouldn't let up. "Whatever you did to him in that castle obviously didn't effect him, because you weren't even a factor that night. He didn't even remember what you did, he remembered what _I_ did to him back in Moebius, when _I_ made him cum there too." An evil smile drew across Shadow's face as Scourge's blue eyes went from red to black in seconds. "He said he loved _me_ , and even after he was finished, he just kept asking for more."

"..." Seething rage, was an understatement for Scourge's wrath as of now. He turned to the side and carelessly threw Shadow on the ground. The ultimate life form landed hard, groaning in pain as he rolled to the side. Scourge just stood there in silence, before beginning to speak in a cold and heinous tone. "I wasn't a factor?" He asked to the fellow hedgehog. "You say, I wasn't a factor." He clenched his fists so tightly, Shadow saw unhealthy veins pulsing through his limbs. His green quills were raising. "I wasn't a factor, even though I am the only enemy that's ever caused Sonic to fear me? To loathe me? To _care_ about me?" He twisted his head towards Shadow, revealing his enraged expression. One eye of his was inverted, with his eyeball being black but his iris being red. The other looked normal, but still just as furious. "He felt _sorry_ for me."

"...What?" Shadow whispered to himself. Sonic was being oddly silent at this moment.

"He said that he felt bad, because he could have saved me from turning into _this_." He raised his hands at himself as a gesture. "Look at me!" He screamed. "My blood's not even red, it's fucking black now!" He hollered. "I can't feel pain anymore, with or without powers. I'm insane, and I'm so fucked up that I think rape is the best way of showing someone how much you love them!" He leaned over and picked up his bat. "And yet, I can still feel, even after all the torture I put him through, even as fucked up as I am, that he _still_ cares about me. He's still stupid enough to think that he can reform me, that he can save me!" He shook his head and held up the bat. "You don't know anything Project," He deeply insulted. "I will always be a factor to Sonic! Even if you kill me right here and now, he'll still remember me! He'll still be sorry, he'll still regret not fixing me and listening to me when he had the fucking chance! But now it's too fucking late, and now you're all fucked! So how about you shut your fucking phony-ass bio-hog mouth, and just DIE ALREADY!" He screamed as he swung the bat down.

But before he could even land one hit, Shadow announced one more attack.

"Dark Bind!"

"What-!?" Instantly, a black mass of aura appeared and thinned into thick wires. It wrapped around all of Scourge's limbs and all over his entire body, tightening so he couldn't move. "Ngh..!" He nearly dropped his bat again, and Shadow took this time to get up and back away. His wounds were slowly recovering, and he could feel his energy come back to him. Scourge angrily forced the wires off of his body with a growl, snapping them off like nothing. He then came charging towards the ultimate life form head on, swinging his bat against him once more. Shadow blocked with his arm, and it hurt, but he didn't falter. They let go for a brief moment, just to swing and clash once again. Shadow used his fist as his weapon this time, Scourge's bat's spikes digging into his glove, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to lose. They clashed over and over again, and each time they did, the planet suffered a major impact of power to erupt in it's grounds.

Debris, rubble, pieces of buildings, even parts of houses or towers broke apart and flung into the air. The two male hedgehogs clashed one last time, red static and dark blue aura wrapping against each other like opposing viruses throughout their bodies. Shadow clenched his teeth as he felt his lover and the Divine Spirit use their power to simultaneously help Shadow push back against Scourge's bat. "It's over Ogilvie!" He shouted over the loud rumbles of chaotic power. "Your men are all dead or detained, and you'll just bleed out soon enough. Give up!"

"My ambitions are too adamant to give up now," Scourge seethed as they both slammed their foreheads against each other's. "I'm never losing to the likes of you ever again!" He shouted back. "I will kill Zonic, and I will have Blue for myself! No one's gonna take this away from me!"

"I see," Shadow quietly summoned some chaos power into his left palm, letting it surround his fist to power his strength even further. "Then unfortunately for you," He chaos controlled beside him, catching Scourge off guard. "I'll just have to break another tooth!" He dived his fist directly into Scourge's cheek, and the anti-double just barely blocked it with his forearm. However, his wrist was definitely broken by now, and his bat was destroyed into pieces from the amount of power they were using.

Scourge ignored the pain like usual, and counteracted. "Every single word that comes out of your mouth," He hissed as he held up his knee. "Just pisses me the fuck off!" He shoved his boot right into Shadow's stomach as payback for earlier. The kick was strong enough to knock some wind out of him, but not strong enough to get him down again.

He just recovered and prepared his fist once more, murky crimson, black and navy blue aura infesting his limb. "This is your last chance!"

Scourge did the same with his right hand, bright red aura surrounding his arm. "Just shut up and _die!_ "

They both reared their arms back, before charging forward with their punches.

* * *

Zector the crocodile carried several bodies onto his back, dragging himself to the infirmary where almost every space of the entire ward was filled to brim of wounded or near death soldiers. Nurses and other men and women ran left and right, carrying towels, tools and paperwork. Yelling orders to doctors, assisting patients in limping or even carrying them to their rooms. People were screaming, people were yelling, crying, hollering...Everything was a complete mess, absolutely no order. So many doctors and nurses were so busy, they couldn't even tend to Zector or pay any attention to him. No one could help him, even as he carried six men and women on his scaled back. One of those men on his back was Zespio, his faithful comrade. For that alone, Zector refused to give up.

As medical professionals sprinted back and forth beside him, he kept moving as quick as he could towards the corridor of medical rooms. Any one of them would be fine, so long as he got there before he collapsed. The very first room he came across, he limped inside of. All doors were unlocked and wide open, it was no problem getting inside. Once he stepped inside, he fell over. He fainted, with his allies unconscious on top of his back. When one of the doctors rushed inside to check in on the several dozens patients inside of this room, he stopped once he saw Colonel Zector and Colonel Zepsio unconscious on the floor along with other high ranking soldiers.

The doctor yelled for some nurses to come and assist him. Soon, several assistants rushed in to help pick up the soldiers one by one, to try and find an available bed for them to rest on. Seeing as how there was barely any space left inside of the room, the doctor pointed to the door and ordered for a nurse to grab some spare pillows and blankets to make makeshift beds. She nodded and ran out of the room, bumping into the Warden in the process. She deeply apologized, but kept moving and sprinted down the hall. The warden of No Zone HQ, now bandaged up with his arm in a cast, watched the madness unfold before him. His nurses and doctors were going insane, desperate ants running ragged all over their own colony. He knew of all the chaos that was going down in the medical ward. He came down to stop it but, Zobotnik figured there was no point in yelling or ordering for the havoc to cease, because it couldn't just stop.

People were dying, getting their limbs amputated, or sleeping in a coma every second the man continued to breathe. No, it was best to let his workers do the best that they could, even through the madness of their infirmary. The most he could do now is return to his office and try and see if he could access the surveillance blimp that flew over the city. He wasted no time in making his way out of the crowded corridor of the medical ward, traveling to the elevator, and heading up to the very top floor. Well, not the very top, that's where his air force went. No, his office was the floor right underneath that one. Once he was inside, he pressed a button and waited. With a couple minutes passing, he heard a ding, and he stepped out to head to his office.

Passing the meeting room, he entered his office easily with face recognition from the DNA scanner next to the entrance. The doors opened automatically, and he walked through easily. They closed back right behind him, and he moved to return to his desk in front of the large windows that had a direct view of the beach and the sea.

He took one step closer, and the windows instantly shattered.

He yelped and fell over on his butt with a pained hiss. He slowly looked up towards the windows, only to see that glass was shattered everywhere. Even the curtains and blinds covering them were tossed to the floor. In the space of the window sill, something was crouching on it with grace. In that space, was a blue hedgehog hopping down from the sill and landing on his feet. He marched towards his Warden's desk, where his laptop sat. Broken glass managed to get on top of the desk, but he didn't care about that. The hedgehog kicked the computer chair away from the desk and seized the device. He pulled it close and began typing away onto the keyboard. The hedgehog was panting, but he didn't seem exhausted. He looked determined, focused. But he also looked tense, angry and ready to snap at anyone who dared to interrupt his focus. His commander of now both the prison and his army, Zonic. "My apologies sir," He said with a rushed tone. "I need to use your computer."

"Y-You can't just break my window and barge into my office!" The old human yelled while pointing his casted arm towards him. "Where'd you even come from!? This is a classified room-!"

"The window." Zonic retorted.

Zobotnik glared at the lieutenant general. "Besides the window, smart ass!"

"The battlefield. I ran here and sprinted up the wall to your office, then I broke the window by punching it." Zonic went through some personal files, looking through several pieces of top secret info that he didn't need to access. Where was it? He was sure Zobotnik would have it. "My champion and Shadow prime are still stuck there, fighting for their lives." The hedgehog easily entered the password to enter the computer's browser, looking through tabs and windows of useless things. "All of Scourge's men are dead. I'd call this a win, but we've lost so many people, this has no right to be considered a victory."

His warden blinked and his eyes slowly widened. "They're all dead?" He asked slowly. He then grinned and jumped up in the air with a cackle. "Hahaha! I knew you could do it! That's my commander, always on point! I knew we'd win, there was no doubt-"

" _What,_ " Zonic clenched his teeth so hard, his canines started to ache. "Did you just say out of your mouth...?" He harshly whispered as he slowly peered from the laptop screen. "This," He pointed to his roughed up uniform, with blood spots decorated at certain parts of his body. " _This_ was a win? Your wounds, my wounds, and two thousand of my men dead? Dismembered? Mutilated? That, is what you consider a win sir?"

Zobotinik shook his head with a small chuckle. "Granted, the body count is pretty high, but it'll be no problem hiring. Everyone wants to be a No Zone officer, we'll have our numbers fixed no problem." The old man walked over to his commander and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. Zonic's nerves riled up to one thousand. "Now the real problem is the city, that's a lot of damage you guys did. I won't hold you accountable, after all, your so called 'champion' made that mess. Him and that nasty green mutant," He spat with disgust. "The death toll we can't really keep a secret, but the city being a mess will be a real problem. We won't be getting any money from the local businesses anytime soon. Ah," He patted his shoulder over and over. Each pat, was Zonic's sanity decreasing bit by bit. The very last of it, was disappearing. "But unlike Zhadow, you're still here! You're smart enough to figure it out. Pfft," He took his hand off of his shoulder and placed it on his hip. "Zhadow's so useless like this, I still can't believe he got himself into a coma."

As the warden went on and on about literally nothing Zonic couldn't care even less about, the commander was slowly going insane. Over the duration of these past couple of months, his psyche was slowly falling apart day by day. First his studies causes him to overwork and deteriorate his health, then his love falls into a coma thanks to his poor decisions, his champion gets tortured and nearly killed several times by the very person who he helped turn into a monster, and now he got to see how his lover was put into a coma just to cause him even more misery. He was already so angry, but now, he was just gonna lose it again. Zhadow's hospital room, talking next to his body, emotionally eating just to turn around and excessively exercise to keep his body fit, which only put even more strain on his body...The heart ache, the headaches, the constant drive to be a perfect and just leader-

 _God fucking damn it_ , he was going to lose his fucking mind.

...And now, he didn't care if he did.

Because he was _done._

Zonic steadily turned his head over at his boss. He was still, talking.

"...So make sure you get the medical ward in order, because it's a damn mess down there. And don't forget to-" Zobotnik paused as he realized that Zonic was entering his personal files. He immediately tried to grab and take the laptop away. "Y-You..! You can't be in there! Get off of my computer!" He exclaimed as he tried snatching it from his commander's hold. And instantly, once he even tried to proceed and reach for his device, he saw Zonic's now soulless and hellfire green eyes drive a spark of intimate fear into the human's body. "...!" Zobotnik slowly backed away with his good arm up in defense. "W-Why...Why do you look like that?"

"I-I..." Zonic whispered. "I think, I've gone insane." He confessed with an unusually chilling voice. He's seen Zonic angry plenty of times before whenever he conversed with his boss, but never like this. "And," Zonic slowly blinked. "Why, do you still keep talking?"

This was his commander speaking, but he was still the general. How dare he talk down to him like some inferior? He was tired of Zonic's insubordination, he needed to be more obedient. The warden growled and immediately straightened his posture, his ears steaming. "How dare you! I have top secret files on that computer, you have no right to access them! I could have you fired for this, even if you are the Overseer! And I'm sick and tired of you talking down to me as if I'm inferior, _you're_ inferior! I am the general!" Zobotnik cried. "I am your boss, and you will obey!"

" _FINE!_ " The hedgehog put the laptop down and gripped his hand into his own chest, seizing his medals. He tore off all of his medals, and carelessly tossed them at Zobotnik. The obese human flinched and covered his head in fear. He's never seen his commander act this way before, perhaps he really did lose his mind. "I've seen and cooperated with too many atrocities that have occurred in this building. Because of _you_ ," He growled. "Because of you, I made a horrible, terrible mistake. I let that maniac out into the streets!" He pointed out the broken window, referring to Scourge who was still in the field. "If it wasn't for your poor judgement, I wouldn't have let him go! Now he's going to kill my champion, all thanks to the torture we've wrought onto Ogilvie! We did this! YOU did this!" He slammed his fist on the desk. "I love my soldiers, they are all loyal allies and friends, and I will always remember them as such. However," He snatched the laptop from the desk and began marching away. "I am sick of being aligned with a system that so carelessly abuses it's inmates so cruelly, that it turns them into world destroying psychopaths like him! I refuse to be apart of your 'perfect system' any longer. I can continue my work as an Overseer without you! And as an Overseer, anything and everything that has to do with either Sonic prime or anti-Sonic overrides any law in the universe. They're my responsibilities, and I decide what happens to them! As of now, I am no longer your commander, I am just a simple hedgehog who just so happens to have a much more significant role than someone as corrupted and twisted as you."

Zonic stormed out of the office, and didn't even bother properly opening the door. It took face recognition, so it wouldn't work anyway. So instead, he kicked both the doors down and walked right out. That exit alone, was his dishonorable discharge to this military. Like he gave a damn.

Chaos, he was so angry he couldn't see straight. His body seemed to be moving on it's own, holding the laptop tucked under his arms as he walked to the elevator. He needed to get to the Room of Realities, now.

It took him less than a few minutes to get there, as his personal office was only underneath the warden's personal floor. He entered his office, slamming the door back closed. He traveled to the backroom, walking in and facing the walls and floors of numerous TV monitors planted in every single space. He instantly looked at Sonic's reality monitor. It was nothing but snow. All of his monitors had static. He untucked the laptop and flipped it open to reveal it's screen again. It's gotta be here somewhere. Where the hell was it? Where did Zobotnik hide the file? He looked and looked, his eyes moving back and forth, back and forth.

That's when he finally found it.

He clicked on it, and saw the convoluted codings of the universal wifi connected to internet of both the entire HQ, and the rest of the universe. Such powerful internet could only be activated and powered by something even Zobotnik couldn't understand. He had directions and instructions on how to maintain it from past Overseers, but he didn't truly comprehend what it meant or what it's true capabilities are. As an Overseer, Zonic was the only person who could understand it's coding. Rather, he was supposed to. He slacked in his studies, thanks to his obsession with becoming a perfect No Zone leader. He didn't truly understand this coding either, because it was chaotic coding.

But that's why him doing this was one big risk, instead of going back out there to try and help his champion fight Scourge. That feeling he felt before, it had to be chaos energy. He had to activate with that power he felt before, but if he couldn't, he'd have to figure it out and that could take hours. They didn't have that kind of time, he needed to connect the wifi.

Focus, breathe.

Focus, breathe.

Focus...Breathe...

 _Focus..._

 _Breathe..._

He could feel it again, that strange energy. His rage, his breaching insanity, it was heating up his entire body. His fingertips, felt like they were on fire. His chest, it felt like a stove. Is this, is this what experiencing chaos energy felt like for the first time? He was starting to sweat, his hold on the laptop was slipping off. He was losing breath, his heart beating faster. He could feel it, this was it!

He stared at the strange alien-like activation coding of the universal wifi, his dark green eyes brightened. They became so bright, it mimicked those of Sonic's. Lime green, shining as beautifully as two peridots. His eyes were burning, the computer was heating up. The coding on the screen changed colors, turning royal blue. Blue static surged throughout his hand and his arms, around the computer.

Suddenly, a message popped up on the screen.

 _Congratulations! You have successfully been connected to the universal wifi._

With a pained hiss, Zonic dropped the laptop on the floor. It landed hard, it's screen slightly cracking with royal blue static surging through it. His fingers were bruised, the tips of them burnt through the glove fabric with falling dead flesh. He'd need that bandaged, but right now that wasn't the issue. One by one, pictures of all of his monitors returned. The universal satellite was working once again. He stood in front of Sonic's reality monitor, now showing his ruined world. Thank goodness, this was his chance!

He got closer and pressed his fingers on the buttons of the monitors. Switching cameras, activating it's built in microphone. No, not Twinkle Park-Ah yes, Station Square. GUN HQ! He just needed to try and get a signal out to Miles' prime's computer access. He pressed another button, and waited. He had to pick up, he had to pick up, he just had to.

"Pick up, pick up..."

Static. _"He..o? Is so...one th...?"_

"Miles prime?!" Zonic watched the screen carefully as it flashed static a couple of times. "Can you hear me?"

A little more static, until a full picture appeared and settled. He saw a yellow-orange kitsune looking into the webcam of his computer on the other side. Zonic's entire body felt an entire wind of relief gently push him against the wall. He almost collapsed in joy. "Thank Chaos..." He whispered to himself.

 _"Hey, you're that Zonic guy right?"_

"Yes," Zonic nearly smiled. "It's me Miles prime."

 _"Guys! The internet's back!"_ As the rest of Sonic's home world friends rushed to crowd into the computer's screen, they were instantly yelling and hollering questions. Briefly arguing with each other as to who would get closer to the computer, or who should get more space in front of the webcam. Eventually, Tails angrily pouted and screamed for everyone to settle down and get out of his way. After his small outburst, everyone hesitated and gave him a little room while keeping quiet. _"Sorry about that,"_ The fox smiled sheepishly. _"Is Sonic okay-"_

There was no more time, Zonic had to give the kitsune directions to follow now. "Miles prime, I am so sorry for interrupting you, but you need to listen to me." He cut him off instantly. He saw that Tails immediately became serious and silenced himself. "You need to sever your connection from your world's wifi, now!"

 _"N-Now? But we won't be able to communicate with you anymore!"_

"Please, trust me. Our universal connection is powerful enough to bring back your power, and we'll be able to connect again. You will still be able to talk to me, but right now you have to take it down!" He cried desperately. "This is our only chance to take that bastard down. If you do this, I assure you, Scourge will be done for good and we can truly win this war!" He saw that Tails was staring at him with grave concern, he could hear the desperation. Yet he was still hesitating. Zonic could understand, after all, he didn't even get to tell the child about his brother's whereabouts. Now he was expecting him to follow everything he was saying. "I know you can't really trust me. After all, I am a stranger to you. However, on Sonic prime's behalf, I am begging you," He said. "Destroy the connection. Please."

Slowly, Tails closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He then opened his blue eyes back and started moving his hands. _"Consider it done, Zonic."_ Tails stated firmly. _"If it'll help take down Scourge, I'll do whatever it takes."_

Another breath of relief nearly caused him to pass out again. "Thank you." He breathed. " _Thank_ you." The child' cooperation was almost enough to reform his insanity. "Once you do it, our connection may go a little fuzzy, but you won't lose us. Don't lose focus, Godspeed." He made a move to turn around.

 _"W-Wait!"_ Tails cried. _"Where are you going?"_

"First to the medical ward, then to Sonic prime. He needs me, but I have faith in you, and so does he." He made a small smirk as he continued to walk to the exit of the Room of Realities. "I can't wait to see Scourge's face the second you destroy his connection."

* * *

Tails watched as Sonic's twin left the room in a hurry. Hm, he couldn't really read that guy. He was really cool and temperament before, but now he looked so desperate and worried. He even looked roughed up with some blood stains. The war must have been pretty bad, but he got through it okay. He really wanted to know what was going on, and he desperately wanted an update on his big brother and Shadow, but their efforts to win the war were more important. With the way that Zonic guy talked, it seemed like Sonic was still very much alive and okay. But, medical ward? How many people got hurt? Sure it was war but-

"I got a bad feeling," Amy suddenly muttered.

Rouge narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I didn't like how he was acting."

The motherly rabbit cradled her child with an unsteady expression. "That young man looked very upset."

"Yeah," Knuckles interjected. "Like something else besides Sonic was buggin' him."

Sitting in the corner of the messy GUN boardroom, Fiona held up her head. "Commander Zonic isn't really the best when it comes to having a temper." She shook her head and scowled. "The guy's got way too many screws loose."

Chaos, why was she still talking? "Oh, like you?" The kitsune casually asked with much less interest in whatever her retort could be. Tails was so dismissive towards the vixen's comments that he didn't even look her way. She needed to stay quiet like a hostage was supposed to. Okay, that sounded a bit dark, but Tails truly didn't care for what she had to say anymore. At this point, none of this was her business anyway. He continued typing on the anti-Omega's keyboard.

Fiona scoffed. "Very funny, kid. Looks like someone gathered some balls underneath all that cutesy fluffy fur."

Amy tilted her head towards her. "Hey, watch it." She held up her hand, a red hammer instantly summoning in her hand.

Tails shrugged. "Nah, it's okay. She can say what she wants, I don't really care. At least I'm not the one who got dumped by another man."

"Little shit-!" Fiona instantly stood up. Rouge and Knuckles were quick to move in front of her in seconds, glaring down at her with menacing expressions. Even with her wounded wing, Rouge had her hands on her hips with cold blue eyes. Knuckles cracked his namesakes in his fists, staring down at the fox with just as much contempt. "What," Fiona challenged. "You think I'm scared of you!?"

"We're not the ones with cuffs on, sweetheart." Rouge sweetly reminded her with a scowl.

"You've put us through a lot of crap, but you hurt Tails and Sonic the most. A little sass from the kid won't hurt you, as if you don't deserve more. You're lucky we're not pounding your face into the wall. Except we're not like you, so we're gonna try our best not to stoop that low."

"So why don't you sit your pretty ass down and continue to do just that," The white bat insulted while bending forward to look the girl square in the eye. "Sit by, do nothing, and look pretty."

Fiona hissed. "Bitch."

"For the people I care about? You're damn right I am." The bat stood up straight and held up her hand to her face, brushing a strand of her hair back behind her neck. With a sarcastic flutter of her long eyelashes, she turned the other cheek and waved over for Knuckles to follow suit.

The red vixen's shackled fists shook together. "And what are you gonna do to me in the meantime? Why am I even still here?!" She yelled.

Rouge flagged her off as she returned by Amy and Vanilla's side along with Knuckles. "Why would we let you go? Just so you can miraculously find your way back to Moebius and help out your hubby? Oh no honey," The ivory bat turned to give Fiona a look, her hands still on her hips. "We're not as stupid as you think we are. You may have talked all that spunk before about being done working for your ex, but guess what?" She narrowed her eyes at her. "I've done that song and dance before and I don't believe you for a damn second. I've been there, and I've seen too many cases like you in basic law enforcement missions every single day. You're one of _those_ types, mindlessly following your abuser because it's all you know. You don't know how to function without that creep, and he's got you wrapped around his finger like a constrictor." She pitifully shook his head at her. "You will never stop working for him, and you'll be in his shadow until he kills you or until you finally find the 'fluffy balls' to leave him for good. And unfortunately for you, the prior will more than likely happen."

Amy's glare faltered as she slowly turned to Rouge. "Abused..?" She almost whispered. This also made Tails hesitate for a small second as he typed. The red echidna stared at Rouge, feeling nothing but truth from her hard hitting words. And Vanilla, looked as if she knew exactly what she was talking about. A sad look was clouding the older woman's amber colored eyes.

"It's obvious honey, look at her." Rouge held her hand out to Fiona as a gesture. "It's written all over her face, all over her body." She pointed to certain parts of her figure. There were old faded wounds on her body, and Rouge doubted if they were battle scars. "None of those are from street fights, those are from him. I'm sure of it."

Then, Amy slowly turned to Vanilla. The woman made a sad expression, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Miss Vanilla?"

"..." She didn't say anything back.

But Fiona, was also silent. She didn't look their way, and slunk back into her corner to sit in.

"Besides," Rouge said with disappointment. "Sonic will know what to do with her. She's gonna stay right where she is until he gets back, so she gets her rightful punishment from the very person she's screwed over the most."

Knuckles crossed his arms and looked over at Fiona's corner. Then, he glanced over at Tails, who was quietly working on that computer. "Seems fair enough to me."

Tails pushed a couple more keys, and finally got through to the wifi. He smiled brightly and pumped a fist into the air. "Alright! I got it!" He exclaimed. Amy jogged over and leaned over to watch.

"You got it?" She frowned with squinting emerald eyes. "All I see is a black screen with a bunch of numbers."

"This is it, Amy! And all I have to do now," He looked down at the keyboard and hovered his finger over a key. "Is take it down."

That final key, destroyed Scourge's connection to their wifi.

* * *

As he walked off the elevator to march across the medical ward, he stopped the instant he tried taking a step further.

This place was in shambles!

Nurses running back and forth, doctors constantly barking orders while literally jumbling a bunch of equipment in their hands, soldiers yelling and screaming all over the place, while some were just passed out in various places around the ward. Such disorder, such disarray, horrid organization-It was giving him a migraine. Well no more, this needed to stop. They needed to get their act together this instant. Zonic clenched his teeth, a vein growing on his temple. He was already so irritated, this was just making things worse. He stomped his foot on the floor and took deep breath before yelling, "ATTENTION!"

Instantaneously, every single living person in the ward paused.

"About face," Zonic hissed. "Eyes front."

As if by natural instinct, anyone who could still stand turned straight to face their commander immediately. Total silence filled the building from top to bottom.

"Now," Zonic said. "Where are my colonels?"

One of the doctors had the gall to speak back to their commander. "T-They're both passed out in one of the medical rooms. Room twenty-seven, sir."

Damn, that wasn't good. He needed them and the rest of his high ranking officers. In order for his plan to work, he couldn't do this by himself. He looked down at his hands, feelings of new found power just waiting to be unleashed. Zonic tightened his fists and sprinted down the corridor of medical rooms. Twenty-seven, twenty-seven-There it was. The door was already wide open. He skidded to a stop and without hesitation, stormed into the room. A lot of his soldiers were in here resting, but he could see Zector and Zespio on some blankets and pillows on the floors. He assumed they had to improvise. They all looked so tired, so exhausted. He felt guilty for what he would have to do next. After all, his men needed rest. But if he didn't do this, his champion would be lost and the rest of the universe would be in peril.

He inhaled slowly, before exhaling just as steadily.

Focus, and breathe.

Zonic's hands glowed a great royal blue, his aura emanating a strange light into the room. He stepped forward, the door to the room closing shut gently.

This would only take a minute.

* * *

 **END - 34**

 **So sorry for the wait, been working on other stories.**

 **Also, a bunch of cliff hangers, Sorry~**


	39. The War Is Lost

**35** **\- The War Is Lost**

* * *

When Shadow and Scourge clashed for the final time, the impact blew them both away. The impact was so large, the entire city was nearly cleaned off of the planet. Both hedgehogs twisted their bodies in the air so that they would land on their feet. Shadow landed with wobbly legs, and a once again weakened body. That was a lot of power he just used, and he could feel Dark Sonic and his lover losing their power as well. His regeneration was taking even slower to effect him, and that wasn't good. He could feel that the transformation was going to fail very soon.

Scourge landed on his feet with more grace. He was panting, and he looked frustrated. He had to have been tired just as well. Scratches and cuts on their faces and bodies, blood dripping from their wounds. They were both at their limit, but they both refused to stand down. That was until Shadow's knees buckled, causing him to kneel down involuntarily with a grunt. Scourge stared at the ultimate life form with great hatred and jealousy, wishing nothing but death and misery on his head. With a lengthy silence, Shadow slowly lifted his head to glower Scourge right in the eye.

"You'll _never_ have him." He murmured, but he knew damn well Scourge could hear him.

Scourge raised a brow. "Say what now?"

"You," Shadow struggled to stand back up. He was way too weak to fight anymore, he could feel Sonic and Dark Sonic's influences fading from his head. "You will never, ever have Sonic. Ngh...!" Before Scourge's eyes, a dark glow emanated from Shadow's body. It grew, and spread out all over his form. Two forms phased from out of his figure, separating themselves from him permanently. A black being made completely of dark matter instantly disappeared into black embers the second he made contact with the world. As for the other person, it was his beloved blue hedgehog, Sonic. He was out of breath, laying on the ground with sweat beading all over his body. He was back to his cobalt blue self, the dark spirit completely absent. Shadow's black and bright red striped fur returned, that negative aura no longer surrounding him.

Shadow collapsed onto the ground alongside him, closing his eyes tightly as he fought to stay conscious. All that power put too much of a strain on his body, and both hedgehogs were on their last leg. He moved his head against the ground, to try and look over at his lover. Sonic was also in dire pain, as he had never fused with both his own super form any another person before. He could barely keep his eyes open, he's been through so much today. Shadow almost smiled, he was still so beautiful even now. At the very least, they would perish together.

"Too many people," Shadow weakly croaked. "Are willing to die for him. Willing to stand in your way, to protect him from a monster like you."

A cruel sneer swept across Scourge's face. "Willing to die for him? You must love him almost as much as I do." Almost as much? That was perhaps the most scathing insult he's ever given him, Shadow thought. "And if you're willing to die for him that much," Hi anti-double summoned a new spiked bat into his palm. "I'll happily send you to an early grave." He slowly stepped in front of Shadow's body. "Say hi to my dad for me in hell. Oh wait," Scourge chuckled. "Fake people like you don't get to have a hell or a heaven, because you're not real." He then frowned deeply. "You're just a fake-ass excuse of organic life. All you'll see when you die, is nothing."

"S-Scourge," Sonic hissed as he tried to sit up, and he instantly fell right back down on his face. "Scourge, don't.." He whispered as he tried to push his body up from the ground again.

"Blue," His green evil twin stressed. "I'm not gonna listen to you."

"Please, don't do this." Sonic begged with desperation. "Come on, _please_ ," He said. "I'm begging you, don't kill him."

With a roll of his eyes and a heavy sigh, he glanced at Sonic with his bat still raised in the air. "Why?"

"Because I love him-" He flinched when Scourge moved to swing. "N-No! Wait!" He saw Scourge pause, and glared at Sonic with anger. "Just, listen to me. I'll...I..." Sonic stammered. He didn't know what to say next.

"You'll what?" Scourge growled. "Give yourself up and let me take you to my castle? Sacrifice yourself for your hubby in the name of loooove?" He lowered his bat and turned completely around to face Sonic.

"Yes!" Sonic cried. He somehow mustered up the last of his strength to push himself up off of the ground and stand up on stumbling feet. He almost fell over, but he tried his best to keep still to negotiate. "Just take me, and leave everyone else alone. You just want me, don't you? So just take me, don't kill Zonic and don't kill Shadow!" He closed his eyes, as he couldn't believe he was saying this. "I'll let you do whatever you want to me. Anything."

Now that, perked Scourge's interests. The green hedgehog narrowed his eyes and put a hand on his hip. "Anything, huh? So you'd let me take you away and, do whatever I want to you? To your body? To your mind?" He as going to take a step closer, but he felt something hold him back. He sucked his teeth and looked down below to see Shadow gripping his ankle.

Sonic tried his best to keep Scourge's attention off of Shadow. "Ignore him, just look at me!" Sonic desperately said. "I mean it, you can do whatever! You could, you could mind control me, you could hurt me, you could do whatever you want. Just don't touch Shadow!"

"You'd let me fuck you too?" Scourge asked with a tilt of his head. He felt the grip on his ankle tighten ten fold. "Without the mind controlling? Right in front of Stripes?"

"Yes." Sonic replied without hesitation, making Shadow's eyes widen.

Scourge felt the grip on his ankle loosen completely, and the green one started to snicker. "Are you for real right now?"

"Yes!"

"Heheheh," Scourge laughed harder. "You're lying straight through your teeth and giving me what I want to hear. Funny thing is, I know you're playing me, but seeing Stripe's distraught lookin' face down here," He pointed with his bat to Shadow, who stared at nothing as he laid on the ground. "Was very worth it." So in other words, Scourge wasn't buying that. Sonic cursed to himself and clenched his eyes shut, this really was it. "You gotta understand something." He said, making Sonic slowly open his eyes back to him. "I made a name for myself so that you couldn't call me just an 'evil twin'." That's right, he was more than that, he was a monster. "No matter how much you beg, no matter how many people I have to kill, I will never stop." He shrugged with a smile. "And there ain't a damn thing you can do about it, Blue. I'm just trying to help you."

"With _what_?" Sonic asked. " _What_ do you want from me?"

"Something that'll take days, maybe even weeks to explain." Scourge nonchalantly said while digging up his nose with his pinky. "Not worth talking about it. Instead, I'm taking you to my castle just like you promised me." He held up a finger and shook it back and forth with a smirk. "But," He turned to Shadow with an evil expression. "Not without wasting this bragging prick first."

"H-Huh? No! Scourge, you can't-!"

"No exceptions, Stripes!" Scourge grinned malevolently as he held up the bat high, right above Shadow's skull. "Get ready to die!" He yelled.

Sonic tried to run to him with his hand out stretched. "NO!"

Scourge brought down the spiked bat down upon Shadow's head, Sonic's hand reaching out to stop his evil twin was in vain, until something _hopelessly unpredictable_ happened right then and there. A looming shadow stretched across all three hedgehogs, making Scourge cease at the very last moment. Sonic stopped as well, and did the same. Why did he suddenly stop? Slowly glancing at each other, as if they both new something wasn't right, they slowly turned their heads and looked up into the sky where the shadow emerged. The blimp was there. Why was the blimp there, right above them? Then, they both heard extremely loud noises, and a planet trembling tremor. They turned in the distance, in the direction of the HQ's tower. It was moving and shifting again, the ultimate weapon preparing yet another attack.

A missile would shoot from it's structure, it would be heading directly their way. Before they could even move or react, they both had the sudden instinct to look back up directly above them. Something was dropping down at high speeds from that blimp, heading straight for them. Sonic was fine, but Scourge shouldn't have looked at all.

Because when he did, a black military boot landed right onto his face.

Sonic's eyes were as big as saucer pans by now, and he was pretty sure his jaw was dropped. Everything he was feeling, his fear, his desperation, even his own physical pain from chaotic strain was just thrown immediately out of the window. Because just now, his blue twin dropped down from the blimp, and drop kicked Scourge directly in his face. Landing boot first, square, in his face. The green hedgehog was so flabbergasted by the events progressing around him all at once, that he couldn't even move from Zonic's sudden drop down. With speed and momentum becoming Zonic's deadly allies, the drop kick was more devastating than the green hedgehog could handle.

Scourge's bat flew from his hand, his head painfully twisting to the side and his body flinging backwards into the ground. When Scourge roughly landed, his body made a few rolls before eventually stopping, laying on his side in silence. After blinking several times to make sure this wasn't a dream, Sonic picked up his jaw and glanced over at his twin. Did he really just do- _Holy crap_. Sonic instantly froze, Zonic looked freaking _irate._ That's the angriest he's ever seen him. He looked so wrathful, he himself took a few steps back to get some space away from him. Zonic's face was darkened, but it didn't hide his piercing, now bright green eyes. His fanged clenching teeth, his slightly trembling posture. He was shaking because his nerves were on fire from how furious he was.

And without another minute wasted, his anti-double got right back up on his feet while rubbing his nose and mouth. They both were bleeding. Scourge looked angry as well, at first. "Who the _fuck-_ " Then he realized who was walking towards him with a very livid glower. The look on Zonic's face was terrifying, Scourge even flinched and immediately shut his mouth while backing away. "W-Woah." He mused with some fear. He smiled nervously while continuing to move backwards. Zonic would not stop coming closer, and Sonic couldn't even say anything to stop him. Rather, he wouldn't. "No need to look like that, okay? We were just wrapping things up-"

" _Ogilvie..._ " He whispered in the greatest and most poisonous venom he could muster.

"Holy fuck," Scourge started to move faster, but so did Zonic. "You are actually really scary right now-Yo, could you stop coming closer to me please? WOAH!" The anti double yelped as he dodged a right hook. "Fucking chill out-Sweet Christ, will you stop!?" He cried as he continued dodging punches and kicks. That's when Scourge fully turned around and move to sprint away from his former prison guard. "Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it...!" He whined while covering his head with his hands in fear of being hit. A good part of him was still treating this like a game, Sonic noticed as his twin calmly chased his anti-double while speed walking. This is the most serious Zonic's ever been, and if Scourge didn't take this earnestly, he was going to- "Oh shit-!" -Regret it. Zonic had leaped and tackled the green hedgehog down.

Again, extremely surprising considering Zonic was the one doing this. The commander snarled and gave a good left hook to Scourge's jaw. The green hedgehog tried punching him to get him off, but Zonic just...He just wasn't even phased by it. As if he never hit him at all, the lieutenant general just continued to punch the Moebian over and over, every swing of his fist making him grunt with both anger and strength. Scourge tried to wrestle Zonic off, and he even managed to kick him in the abdomen to get him to move back a bit, but this only worked for so long. Just as Scourge moved to crawl backwards, Zonic immediately reached down to seize his ankle and yanked him back to where he was. As his twin continued to brawl with his anti-self, Sonic's jaw slowly started dropping again. Was this really happening right now?

His Zonic was no brawler, not at all. Not even at his angriest. He didn't fight like that, he didn't fight thugs like a street grappler. But here he was, giving his anti-self some of the worst damage he's gotten all day. Apparently, Zonic's punches were so strong, it was enough to get Scourge stunned and even genuinely frightful. Even fused with a super form and a Chaos born, Shadow was still no match for Scourge. Granted, Zonic may only be getting good hits in because Scourge was tired now, but still. He was _wrecking_ him.

Growing increasingly irritated by Zonic's violence, Scourge growled and began to develop some power in his hand. He also stared Zonic right in the eye, ready to mind control the commander. However, it didn't work. He was starting to panic, why couldn't he control him? Another punch in the face with a rough shove onto the ground cut off his train of thought. Zonic used his thumb to jab some blood off of his own lip from the previous hit Scourge somehow managed to hit him with earlier. "I've awoken my own ability to use chaos." He said, shocking both his twin and Scourge.

"You're fucking lying." Scourge murmured. "There is no Overseer in history, who can use chaos as freely as _we_ can!" He yelled while shoving a double kick into Zonic's chest to knock him off again. This time, it worked. "That's," He stammered as he quickly stood up and backed away. "That's impossible, you're not meant to have _that_ much chaos power!"

"That much? I didn't even know I had the ability to use it at all," Zonic admitted as he got right back up and dusted himself off. And once he did, he continued to walk towards Scourge all over again. "Until I woke myself up from Dark Sonic's Dark Coffin. While I am obviously still ignorant to the Divine Spirits' ways, I've a lot of studying to do when I return to home." He held up his hands and slammed his fist into the other. He cracked his knuckles before wringing them out and flexing his fingers. "But as for now," He said with a gravely dangerous tone. "That ability of yours no longer works on me at the moment. I presume that when you're tired like this, it's not strong enough to penetrate the mind of a chaos user. Either that, or you're too scared of me to use it properly."

A vein developed on Scourge's face. "Bastard," He hissed. "As if I'd ever be scared of one of you again!" He stopped moving backwards, but he shouldn't have. Zonic began sprinting, leading a royal blue streak behind him. Scourge was stunned at how fast he was moving, it was almost as if he teleported.

"You shouldn't have stopped running Ogilvie!" Zonic announced before charging another painful jab into his stomach. It knocked all the wind out of his system, making Scourge's knees buckle with a strangling gasp.

"W-Wha-" Scourge couldn't believe this. Once he fell onto his knees, Zonic stepped behind him and yanked him back up on his feet. He had his arms pulled behind his back, painfully in a submissive position. "A-Ah...! Fucking stop!" He winced.

"Screw your chaos abilities," Zonic spat. "You're mine now, and I will never let you escape from me again!" He furiously yelled as he pulled his arm even more, threatening to break his limbs. Scourge's pain tolerance was high, but he could still very much feel that.

"...!"

"You're a murderer, a thief, a rapist-"

"T-The rape allegations aren't true and you fucking know it! They raped _me-!_ "

"Are you _joking!?_ " Zonic hollered into his ear with the upmost amount of rage. He twisted the green hedgehog's arm completely behind his back a cringe worthy crack echoing throughout the ruined city. Sonic winced and turned away quickly. "Does it matter?! You're a damn monster! My superior is in a coma, around two thousand of my men are dead, my boss has broken bones, my champion was nearly killed, and you destroyed my damn city! Sonic prime's home is a barren wasteland because of you. Thanks to you, I failed my job as his Overseer!"

"Motherfucker, you were _my_ Overseer too! _You_ did this to me! You failed _me!_ "

Zonic's green eyes were shrunken with animalistic pupils. "Not anymore, I'm not. You are the worst living creature alive, and you deserve the worst punishment imaginable Ogilvie!"

Through his grinding teeth as he tried ignoring the pain of his now broken arm, Scourge angrily tried shoving Zonic off of him, but it was no use. "Capital punishment's one of the reasons why I became a monster in the first place, you son of a bitch! Don't you idiots ever learn?!"

"And though that may be true," Zonic kicked Scourge in the back to force him down to one knee. "It's far too late to show mercy as of now! You're finished!" He wrapped one of his arms around Scourge's throat, and continued to force his body down with his own knee pushing into his spine. With this tight hold, Zonic was now able to use his other arm freely, holding it up to his collar to press in his transmitter. "Zector, Zespio, it's time!" He then quickly glanced over to Sonic, making grunt as he made small struggles to keep Scourge down onto the ground. "Sonic prime, retrieve Shadow prime immediately."

With a startled yelp, Sonic nodded quickly. "U-Uh, okay!" He cautiously jogged over to Shadow, still with shaky legs, and used what little energy he had left to help him up off of the ground. He managed to get the biohog to slump against his shoulder, limping with him away from the violent scene. The looming shadow of the blimp was still very much above them, and more people dropped down. First Zector, then Zespio. Those shoes of theirs must have been great for long falls, because their legs should have been broken from impact after dropping from that distance. Once the commander's elites landed, more people dropped down. High ranking soldiers that he remembered from the battle field, now covered head to toe with gauze or bandages, rushing in with medical supplies. They immediately ran to Sonic and Shadow's side, doing the best they could to tend to their wounds while calling in for back up on their own built in transmitters.

Zespio was doing the same, only he was giving orders to HQ for something else. "Launch it now!"

Zector pointed for the others to move out of the way. "Get some distance!"

With Shadow falling in and out of consciousness, he slowly looked up from all of the yelling and commotion, turning to his partner who was helping him move along with the rest of Zonic's medical team. He looked just as confused as Sonic did. In the midst of havoc, a few patrol cars zoomed into the city directly to their location. Medical staff began to push Sonic and Shadow in to get them to escape, until the No Zone HQ tower began to move once again. A metal sleeping giant now awoken from it's slumber, it's structure altered and shifted, before launching yet another missile to the city. Sonic became shocked. "No way..." He whispered. They were going to shoot that missile into Scourge.

Chaos.

Scourge began to panic with shrunken eyes.

His power, where was it?! It was gone, why couldn't he use Fleetway!? Why did his body feel so sore all of a sudden? Why was this happening?!

Sonic and Shadow turned to look back over from several yards away at Zonic, who now had Scourge in a full nelson. Scourge couldn't get away, no matter how much he kicked and struggled. He couldn't use chaos energy, Zonic was putting his entire mojo in disarray. Though he didn't wear gauntlets, his own new found chaotic abilities were doing so without his knowledge, and it was screwing up Scourge's entire matrix. He was utterly vulnerable. He screamed and hollered curses, yelling for Zonic to piss off. Zector and Zespio ran to their side, and immediately got behind their boss. They both wrap themselves around both him and Scourge to keep the former inmate still. Even more surprise by what they were doing, Scourge immediately became extremely and uncharacteristically defensive. He didn't like so many people crowding up on him at once like this. "W-What the fuck are you doing!? Get off of me..!" He said in a rather flustered fashion.

That missile was heading closer, gaining even more speed as it moved and dove towards them. It's target in sight, _Scourge_. Sonic and Shadow watched in astonishment as the entire team of medical soldiers rushed from the couple's side and made their way to their commander. They all yelled orders to assist their lieutenant general, and one by one, they all wrapped themselves around Scourge and their boss to keep him from getting away. He wouldn't escape, he wouldn't move one inch. He'd take this attack by full force, with absolutely no protection.

"Stop it! Get off of me! _Get off!_ Get off, get off GET OFF OF ME!" Scourge screamed to the heavens, his voice having hints of both fear and trauma.

The missile headed closer and closer, Sonic and Shadow watched every second of what happened next.

"Let me _go...!_ " Scourge shook his body but could not move with all the arms and hands grabbing at him to keep him still. "What _is_ this...!?"

The missile now right in front of the hedgehog, dived even lower, and made a direct hit into his stomach.

The force of the artillery was so strong, it knocked back every single person who was behind their commander to hold back Scourge. In an instant, a royal blue chaotic field surrounded both himself and the rest of his soldiers standing right behind him to hold Scourge back. They never let go, taking the brunt of the force just as well as Scourge, only not as intensely. Silently, Zonic could feel that the missile was just about to explode. "Move!" He shouted. All of his soldiers wasted no time to let go of each other and their leader to jump out of the way. Zespio moved out of the way as well, but not Zector. As the missile's nose dived into Scourge's stomach, Zonic let go of the former inmate and kicked him forward into the missile even more. Zector yanked his commander away from Scourge's doom and shielded him with his larger body while barrel rolling away from the upcoming blast. That chaotic force field around their commander disappeared.

An explosion erupted from within the city, along with a bright red light illuminating the planet.

All anyone could hear, was a painful scream from the anti-Sonic.

Once the smoke settled, drifting and fading into the skies. That red light from before had also vanished, but Scourge was still there. Only, his body was on the ground, battered and burned in some places. While the explosion wasn't big enough to destroy the entire city or even the block, it was still strong enough to kill anyone who was directly hit by it. Scourge definitely wasn't dead, but he was surely out cold. Sonic and Shadow may have been a good distance away, but the blast radius still pushed both them and the patrol cars back a bit. Some rubble even flew by them, to which they thankfully missed. From their distance, they saw Zonic's soldiers struggling to get back up. Fortunately, they managed to do so, and no one else was seriously hurt. They dusted burnt debris off of their clothing, coughing from the smoke they may have ingested from the explosion. Zonic was already standing, helping the colonel of his navy back on his feet as well. Zector's back was injured and burned from the explosion, but he was still okay. He gave a weak thumbs up to his commander, and even bowed in respect.

Soon, all of his men bowed just as well, before standing up straight and saluting confidently. Even with their comrades dead, even with all the loss and grief they've suffered through this battle, they were all still willing to die for their leader. Zonic's pure anger seemed to have diminished, as he watched all of his men surround him, and salute him with teary eyes. Even with their injuries, they would still move their bones to give their leader the upmost respect that he deserved. Zector looked down at his commander, watching him become shocked at their extreme act of loyalty. He couldn't even believe that they did that for him, willing to sacrifice themselves all for his sake. With a heavy heart, Zonic placed his hand on his heart and bowed back. A form of gratitude for all of their actions today.

Zespio turned to the side, pressing his fingers in his collar. "Did you get all that Miles prime?" He asked into the hidden transmitter. "It's finally over."

The blimp's screen flickered with some static, before revealing a yellow-orange fox's ecstatic face. Other Mobians crowded beside him, watching with excited and cheerful faces. _"Are you kidding me? Of course we saw all that, that was freakin' awesome! Everyone was amazing!"_ The kitsune cried. Sonic's entire body stopped just to give his full attention to the flying aircraft. Sonic's breath was stuck in his throat once he heard his little brother's voice echo across the ruined city. His buddy was up there, they were able to connect him to the video screen. Sonic absentmindedly started to smile. Shadow weakly did the same, as he saw Rouge and the others. They saw the fox peer downwards on the screen, his smile growing even bigger. _"You all did it, Sonic!"_ He waved, and the others greeted them with just as much excitement.

Rouge and Vanilla blew out huge sighs of relief, while Knuckles pounded his fists together triumphantly. Amy was a cross between elated and anxious as all living hell. Probably was worried to death if they were killed. Feeling himself nearly release a tear, Sonic sucked it up like he always did and sniffed it away with a joyous expression. Once he heard some shuffling amongst the concrete, he saw that his twin and his wounded soldiers were limping their way back over to him. Seeing Sonic's overjoyed smile, was enough to make the commander sigh with one as well. Zector grunted as he tossed a green hedgehog in front of him, who was evidently knocked out and very much handcuffed. Even though he had a broken arm, they didn't want to take any chances.

Zespio held up his wrist, one of the gauntlets many officers wore, and spoke in it. "I'm going to disconnect you from the blimp and put your connection back in the reality room. We'll rendezvous very soon. Please hang tight until we send help to your world, Miles prime."

With a nod and a faltering smile, the fox nodded and waved goodbye along with the others to their friends. In seconds, the connection ended, and the blimp was now only showing snow.

Their plan came together and worked out in the end, the commander couldn't be any happier. And speaking of which...Zonic glared down at Scourge's body in disgust. "Of course, he'll be taken to a very special place underground No Zone Prison." He looked up towards Sonic. "A place where only the very worst of the worst go, a cell designed for Scourge and only just. The warden made plans for his perfect little safe haven in our HQ for months now, should we ever get the chance to detain him again."

"But, isn't your prison already underground?"

"Most of it is, for the most part." Zonic trailed off. "However, even farther down than that, deep within the planet's core, is a cell where no one except for both the warden and myself can enter unless given special permission to anyone else." He explained. "It is impenetrable, it is made of material more indestructible than anything you've ever seen before. Even without a guard standing by, Scourge will never be able to escape."

Shadow frowned, that sounded almost too perfect. "And you're sure he'll stay put?"

"Oh of course not." The hero's twin answered with a scoff. "Scourge is unpredictable, powerful, but most of all, he's cunning." He shook his head while continuing to speak. "There is no simple solution to detaining Scourge, it's just impossible. Some way, some how, he will find a way to escape and wreak havoc once again. Sadly," Zonic grimaced while looking back down at the anti-menace. "Similar to Sonic prime, he's beyond persistent. He simply won't stop until he's killed."

The very thought of executing the hedgehog left a foul taste in Sonic's mouth. "You're, not really going to do that, are you?"

"..." Zonic's silence, and his steady but solemn glare gave Sonic all the answers he needed.

"Zonic," Sonic protested. "You can't just do that-"

"I believe this is a talk we should have inside." He cut off his twin immediately, to which he could tell he clearly did not like. Sonic instantly scowled in response to that, but shut his mouth anyway. "Sonic," He sincerely pleaded. "We can discuss that later when you both are safe and healed. Your lives are a bigger priority right now, so drop it." He said with a more sterner tone. "Now. _Please._ "

Dismissively, Sonic turned his head away and moved to take Shadow back towards the lightly disgruntled police car. "I'm way too exhausted to argue with you right now anyway..."

With another exhale, Zonic closed his eyes to take a moment in.

He slowly opened them up and turned to Zector, asking him to escort their new prisoner in one of the other cars.

* * *

The drive to HQ seemed to short, and in that time, Scourge had already awoken from his small dirt nap. When they arrived in front of HQ, the three hedgehogs left their patrol car first and entered. Zector meanwhile had no trouble escorting him out of the car in special handcuffs, since Scourge didn't even put up a fight. He looked slightly agitated, but that was it. He mostly just had a blank expression on his face. Barely blinking, never saying a word to anyone. Zespio along with several other officers, kept the green hedgehog under a watchful eye. Little did they know, Scourge had no plans of doing anything reckless as of now.

Zonic awaited for the crocodile to shove Scourge inside. The second he did, thousands of eyes glared holes into him at once. Any No Zone soldier or faculty gave him the deadliest of cold stares any living being could muster. He could feel their hate, disdain, bloodlust and vengeance writhing in their pathetic hearts. They wanted him dead for all of the lives he had manipulated and taken, but he obviously didn't care. He just continued to stare at nothing, and he didn't even make any comments or dirty looks at Sonic when he walked past him. Zonic walked along with the inmate and his colonels, then briefly turned to his twin. "We all have hundreds of questions to ask, and he will be interrogated tomorrow. It's almost evening, and everyone needs to rest as much as they can." He gave Sonic a soft expression, as he knew his champion was in a large mix of emotions right now. "Especially you two." He was referring to a nearly unconscious Shadow was well.

As he saw Shadow just barely fighting to stay awake, with a battered Sonic helping him walk with a sad expression, Zonic felt even more responsible. He couldn't help but feel like all of this was his fault. He turned and gave a look to both Zepsio and Zector, gesturing for them to keep an eye on Scourge. They saluted him, and Zonic moved to walk in front of the heroes. He placed his hands on their wrists separately, with royal blue aura appearing and drifting from him to them. Sonic and Shadow didn't what the commander was doing at first, until they saw chaos energy move to etch onto their fur. They were shocked, to say the least. Soon, they could feel their wounds and scars heal. Zonic was actually healing them with chaos power.

This reminded them, didn't Scourge say something strange right before Zonic beat the living snot out of him back in the city?

 _"There is no Overseer in history, who can use chaos as freely as we can!"_

If this was true, then why was he able to do it now? With widening lime green eyes, Sonic even realized that Zonic's eyes were practically just as bright as his own. Even after a horrible blood soaked battle, Zonic looked great after he digitized his uniform off of his body. His fur was a great shiny blue, his peach limbs and torso clean, and his posture seemed almost rejuvenated. "H-How..." Sonic whispered, not even able to finish his sentence. "How are you, doing this..?" He asked with wonder. Soon, Shadow no longer needed to lean on Sonic for support. He stood up on his own, moving his limbs slowly to make sure nothing was cramped or dislocated.

"Astonishing." Shadow murmured. "Not even my regenerative abilities work that fast." He stared at the commander in confusion. "Only those divine beings can heal like this."

Zonic was silent at first, letting go of their wrists while staring down at the floor. "I," He reluctantly spoke. "I do not understand what happened myself, but," He looked at his palms, watching the royal blue energy around his now bare hands fade away. "For some reason, I feel more powerful." He glanced over at his colonels and high ranking officers, before looking back at the two hedgehogs. "All of the men and women who came to help me neutralize Scourge back in the city, they were all unconscious. Passed out, bleeding. Somehow, I was able to heal them back to full health." He made a difficult expression. "If it wasn't for them, or these powers, I wouldn't have been able to stop him from hurting you."

Sonic slowly shook his head. Something, didn't seem right. Zonic told him before that he never shared any of his abilities, including chaos. So why could he now of all times?

"My abilities aren't that powerful, as you should still be a bit sore in a few places but, it's the least I can do to help you."

The two were grateful that he even had said powers to begin with. "No," Sonic protested. "Thanks, really."

"After I personally escort Scourge into his new cell, I'll be returning to the medical ward to help as many soldiers as I can." He walked back over to his men and their new prisoner, bidding his twin farewell. "Please, return home and get some rest. I can confidently say that things will be fine by tomorrow. We'll commence the interrogation before noon, it'd be wise if you attended." He gave them a small bow, before nodding over for his soldiers to follow him. As they walked off, other nearby faculty or officers continued to go about their duties as quick as possible. Mostly to attend to wounded soldiers, or to try and repair any damages on the HQ as much as they could.

With heavy hearts, both Shadow and Sonic faced each other. They said nothing, but they could feel each other's wavelengths. Things were, irreversible. Hundreds of people were dead, their city was destroyed, and their HQ was in shambles. Zonic, even with his new found power looked beyond stressed and perhaps broken. If Sonic didn't know any better, he'd say he lost his sanity the second he appeared to save them. Everything was just, shit.

Completely and utterly ruined.

Before they could walk away, they heard quickening footsteps run from behind them. They slowly turned around, only to see Zepsio jogging over to them. "Hey!" He called. He then stopped and tossed something over to the blue hero. Sonic caught it in his hands, and realized it was some kind of hand-held device. One wth a touch screen and buttons on the side. "Your friends are there, and they're fully online."

Out of curiosity, Sonic pressed one of the buttons on the side. Before their eyes, the screen lit up and showed live footage of their friends back in Mobius prime. They saw Tails and Amy waving at them with big happy grins on their faces. Just seeing them brought Sonic's heart in a much more serene state. Both he and Shadow slowly smiled. Sonic hugged the device to his chest, and Shadow quickly thanked the chameleon. "Thank you." He said.

He then gently grasped Sonic's shoulder and walked them to the entrance of the HQ.

* * *

They planned on returning back to the apartments nearby the HQ. Thankfully it wasn't very close to the main city, so it wasn't destroyed. The two hedgehogs didn't talk to each other, but they did speak to the smart device Zespio gave them earlier. Tails told them their story of how they crash landed to GUN HQ, getting Vanilla and Cream on their team along the way. How Scourge appeared and infested the world with his power, how he smacked Rouge over the head with his bat, and how he teleported over to No Zone. How the GUN commander shot himself, how they managed to capture Fiona, and how they met the anti-Omega. The very mention of an anti-Omega raised brows. Sonic told them he didn't even know one existed, and he never met it.

 _"Then this huge robot comes out of no where, all cyan and blue. He started using this riot foam stuff, then he blasted them at all these people-"_ As Tails was talking about the droid, he seemed very distracted. Like something was holding him back from talking as freely as he wanted. Sonic took note of this, his parental sirens going off the charts.

As they walked in front of the door to Zonic's old apartment, he narrowed his eyes and frowned. "Tails," He fully addressed with a very grounded tone. Tails flinched, as he knew what that voice meant. That was ol' big brother-slash-fatherly-slash-motherly Sonic coming out. "Are you _okay?_ " He asked slowly.

Shadow noticed his tone, and stared at the screen with a similar level of suspicion.

 _"Uhh,"_ Tails trailed off with a slightly nervous expression. Sonic could sense it, something wasn't letting him talk. _"Yeah! I mean, the world's still really crappy but, we're all okay now."_ He gave Sonic a smile that seemed hopeful, but also fearful. Sonic knew him better than anyone else in the world, he knew Tails was anxious about something or someone in that room. However, he also felt that if he asked about it, it may blow the kitsune's cover. He'd have to play along just as well, and act oblivious.

With a long and hard stare, causing Tails to smile even more nervously, Sonic suddenly grinned. "Okie-dokie!" He said with a thumbs up. "No problem little bro, just make sure you _keep your eyes peeled_ alright?" His grin fell into a flat line. "You, have no idea how worried we are about you guys. Everybody's been through so much and," He sighed with a grimace. "It feels like everything that Scourge has ever touched is falling apart. Even people."

They saw Knuckles place his hand over the fox's shoulder, leaning in the camera to show his face. _"That may be true, but you can't give up now. You're this close to getting rid of that asshole for good."_

As Sonic talked with them, Shadow realized this might be a good time to get the door unlocked and walk inside. Shadow chaos controlled the keys to his hand, stepping in front of the entrance. Sonic continued to speak with their friends in the meantime. "Yeah but, that's the thing." He said worriedly. "I, I don't think I can beat him without," He couldn't even say it. "Without, you know."

He saw Amy squeeze her face next to Tails. _"What?"_

Tails could pretty much figure out what his big brother was trying to say. _"Killing him?"_ He replied softly.

Sonic exhaled heavily. "Yes." He heard a click, and saw that Shadow was standing by the door with his arms crossed. He was waiting for him to join him inside. That's when Sonic felt something wet and small splash the top of his head. He then saw some droplets fall on top of the screen, with more moisture developing on his body. It was raining. He covered the device's screen by hugging it to his chest and quickly walked inside. Shadow shut the door behind them, and traveled in the home to the bedroom together. "I honestly don't know what to do."

He heard some voice in the background on Tails' side as he stepped in the bedroom, with Shadow shutting the door. Sonic sat down on the bed, and the Ultimate life form soon sat next to him.

 _"Scooch over, Red."_ He heard a sensual voice say while shooing Knuckles away from the camera. He saw some feminine hips moving into the shot, gently pushing the fox out of view. _"Move aside, honey."_ A white voluptuous bat sat in front of the screen, who turned to the side and moved to pull someone closer to her. She was pulling Amy close to herself, who looked just as puzzled as Sonic and Shadow did. While he was happy to see his GUN partner, he didn't know why she told the others to get out of the way. _"Big Blue? That you, sweetie?"_ She asked while adjusting the screen.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I'm here. Something up?"

She pursed her lipstick lips and crossed her arms. _"We need to talk."_

* * *

 **END - 35**

 **"You were my protector, too. I thought we were all brethren of Chaos blood. And then I found the truth amongst your corrupted words.**

 **You lied to me.**

 **You all...lied."**

 **EDIT: I read all the reviews and oh my God, thank you all so much. You guys are really starting to understand where I'm trying to go here with this story. This story is indeed filled with my own passion, written with my own personal views of life and morals. How people treat criminals, how criminals see themselves, _how listening to someone's final plea may just save their lives before it's too late._ Thanks again, and stay tuned because this story is far from over. We're only a little more than half way there, so buckle up for a wild ride.**


	40. Melancholy Song

**36 - Melancholy Song**

* * *

"Talk?" Sonic quietly repeated. "Talk about what?" Thunder made him flinch and take his eyes off of the screen for a brief second. Shadow scowled and got up to close the curtains attached to the windows. Shadow noticed the hoodie and leather jacket the hero bought them days ago during the festival, laying against a lone chair in front of an empty desk. Hn, that felt like such a long time ago, now. As Shadow went back to closing the curtains, Sonic sighed and gave his attention back to the screen.

Rouge gave Amy a look. _"While Pinky and I were trying to get rid of some of Scourge's control here in Station Square, she said something pretty dark to me."_ After she said this, Amy's expression fell into despair. She lowered her head down, shadowing her face in shame. She said nothing as Rouge cleared her throat and continued. _"She told me how she hated that you were a hero."_ Her voice became rough and stern. Sonic's eyes dilated. She hated that he was a hero? He blinked slowly but didn't dare interrupt the woman. _"She said that if you weren't a hero, no one would be after us, trying to kill us all the time."_ The dark embrace of his guilt was growing in his chest. _"She also said that she didn't want you to get hurt in the process, that she didn't want_ anyone _to get hurt."_ She felt Amy move away from her and get up. She walked away from the screen, no where to be seen.

That's, really how Amy felt about him?

All this time? His fangirl, his obsessive self-proclaimed girlfriend? Really, _Amy?_ The girl who put him on a pedestal and worshipped him like a God?

 _"I told her that she was being incredibly selfish. I told her that it wasn't your fault that someone's closest friends are an easy cheap shot for villains like Scourge. I told her that,"_ Her voice became softer, her tone becoming more gentle. _"That you value your home and everyone in it, more than anything else in the universe. You love not just us, but all of Mobius. You're so merciful that you even show compassion to enemies."_ She hesitated in her words before starting up again. _"You never kill Eggman, even when you have the chance. Of all your years of living and fighting that fat bastard more times than anyone else, you never did it."_ She moved closer. _"You either seal something away, or let them leave a fight with broken bones and a bad loss. But that would be it. The only thing you destroy, are machines. Listen,"_ She said. _"I understand not wanting a bodycount, I really do. I understand that you have to be a role model for people you really care about, and I understand that at heart, you don't have the strength to take the life of another living being. But sometimes, you_ don't _have a choice."_

Not this again...

 _"Pacifism, isn't always the option."_ She pressed on. _"Scourge told us himself that if you don't kill him, he will kill all of us and eventually kill you."_ She made a deep frown, furrowing her brows. _"The life of one psychotic brat, could have saved thousands of lives this month. Do you understand? He's already destroyed Moebius and our world, don't let him destroy anything else. And if you don't stop him, he'll continue to do it."_ She tightened her fists. _"He will never stop, he will never be reformed, he will never stay locked up. You have to do it, Sonic."_ Her face relaxed into a sorrowful expression, her eyes clouding with sadness. _"No one will fault you for finally ending this, permanently. Because not killing him, wouldn't be helping the problem, you'd be enabling it. You'd be just as bad as him."_ She slowly closed her eyes. _"I know we're not too close, but Shadow helped us come together. And now I know you well enough to know that you'll at least listen to what I have to ask of you. So I'm begging you, on Shadow's behalf,"_ She whispered. _"_ Kill him. _Please. End this."_

The entire time, Sonic didn't speak, only listened. His eyes were staring off to the side, his mouth locked into a deep scowl.

Rouge called for Tails to get back on the laptop as she moved to get up. _"I hope you consider everything I told you, Big Blue. That's all I wanted to say."_ She said. She then gave them a small, sympathetic smile. _"Good luck."_ She disappeared from view of the camera. Sonic all of a sudden felt so stressed, his bones were aching and he felt a horrible headache coming along. He placed a hand over his temple while exhaling slowly. He felt weights on his back, the pressure crushing his spine like brittle rocks. He felt like he was getting sick.

Tails moved and sat in front of the screen now, looking back at Sonic with a concerned expression. _"Everything okay? Amy looks kinda sad now. Rouge too-"_ He stopped once he saw his big brother's stressed expression. _"Sonic? Are you, alright?"_

"Huh?" He blinked. "Oh," He smiled a little at Tails' face. "I'm good. No, everything's fine. Rouge just, gave me a stern talking-to. Some real solid advice." He scratched behind his head. "I should be thanking her, actually. She told me something that I didn't want to hear, before someone else could." This was everything Zonic was going to tell him, Rouge just beat him to the punch.

That was the bottom line: Scourge needed to die.

Point, blank, period.

 _"Yeah, she's really smart. You should listen to her."_ The boy replied with a smile. _"Oh! That reminds me, Fiona told us some crazy stuff about you and Scourge."_ Oh yeah, that. Sonic nearly rolled his eyes with another huge sigh. Tails briefly looked away from the camera, before looking back. _"Did you uh,"_ He paused. _"Want to talk to her-"_

" _Hell_ no." Sonic spat viciously. Tails blinked at his sudden retort in silence. Sonic smiled sheepishly at this. "Oh, sorry buddy. My old feelings kinda came out a little. But no," He frowned. "I don't want to speak to her. Just tell me what she told you." He instructed.

Tails wasted no time in telling Sonic everything the vixen told his friends. Chaos Born, the shrines on their home islands, gaining powers on their birthdays, Scourge's plans, and basically almost everything they already found out about. Except, he didn't know that chaos wasn't born on Angel Island. He also didn't know that the Master Emerald didn't belong to the Echidna Clan, or the seven chaos emeralds, but they belonged to the original Chaos Born. Or the fact that the very entities inside of his body, may have been responsible for killing off all of his ancestors. That for some reason, the Divine Spirits were malevolent beings who wanted to invade the world with more Chaos Born. He finally mentioned that Scourge only did all of this, in order to isolate, weaken and kill Sonic to destroy all Chaos Born.

Including, himself.

"..." He couldn't believe this. All this time, Sonic was the bad guy here? _Really...?_ Why did he feel so, betrayed? He felt a hand cup his shoulder blade, and he knew it was Shadow trying to comfort him. He must have heard all that, too.

 _"I,"_ Tails stuttered. _"You're not a bad guy. And you look just as lost as we did when she first told us all that. To be honest, I don't think she's lying, but I also think that you never realized what those spirit thingies were doing to you guys. That they're using you."_ The fox frowned. _"I know this is a lot, I'm sorry. You just got back from a war and stuff."_

"No," Sonic shook his head. "No, I'm glad you told me all of this. I'm just," He closed his eyes. "I'm, starting to question certain things. That and, I'm kinda embarrassed. I didn't want you guys to know about, the dark forms that I have inside of me. They're really dangerous and I wanted to shield you away from that."

Tails made a small pout. _"Sonic, hiding stuff from your friends never helps anyone."_

"You don't understand, Tails. I-" _I could have killed all of you a long time ago,_ is what he was going to say. He didn't want to scar his little brother anymore, the twelve-year old already saw enough blood and death. He didn't need to make him fear his older brother, too. "Never mind..." He mumbled.

It was rare to see Sonic like this, so secretive and disappointed. He only got like this whenever he talked about himself, his self-consciousness. Tails hated when he got like this, because he always looked so sad and guilty about just _existing._ _"Uh,"_ He should just change the subject. _"Fiona told us something weird too,"_ He was lying when he said this, but he didn't want to robot to look at him side eyed. "She told us that the castle was haunted, and Rouge said she saw someone that looked like Scourge right after he first transformed into looking green."

Sonic rose a brow. "Haunted?"

Tails nodded with an unsure frown. _"We're not too sure about that but, we're not striking anything out yet. With everything we've seen, there's a good chance that it's true."_

"Huh, well that's weird." He admitted. "But we're gonna interrogate Scourge tomorrow, and I'm gonna make him answer a lot of questions. Look," He suddenly said. "I really don't like you guys there. You gotta get to Angel Island."

 _"Angel Island?"_

"Trust me, that's the safest place to be. Scourge won't be after the master emerald, and you'll be protected from anyone or anything on the ground. I know Scourge's power was severed from our world but, don't take any chances. I know Knuckles' has some food stored up in there, and he's got this bunker under the alter." The hero advised. "There's old blood stains in the room, you guys probably got BO for days. I mean, when's the last time you ate a decent meal?"

Before Tails could say anything, the red echidna butt into the screen with a growl. _"For your information hedgehog, we don't have any means of flying up there. If Tails still had a plane, don't you think we would have flown up there by now?"_ Sonic's headache was getting bigger. He knew that was Knuckles' default attitude, but he really was in no mood for it right now. _"And before you give me a snarky remark, there's an emergency pantry full of food that we've been using for days. I've taking care of_ your _kid the entire time you've been gone, thank you very much."_

"God damn it," Sonic hissed. "Knuckles, could you shut up for a sec?"

Tails immediately started to shove the guardian out of the camera the second he started yelling back at Sonic's exasperated retort. _"Knuckles, now isn't the time! Go away!"_ After he made the echidna leave the space, he quickly apologized for that. _"Sorry, Sonic."_

Sonic brushed it off and continued. "If you're all there, Shadow and I'll be able to sleep at night knowing you're in a good place without us. You gotta find a way to fly up there. There's gotta be a helicopter or something you can use from GUN HQ to get there." His eyes sadly lowered. "We're still gonna be awhile before we get back to you, and a lot people here in No Zone died so they can't sent help yet." Even after Scourge was defeated, Sonic could still feel something blocking them from warping back to Mobius. That was odd, but that meant they still couldn't leave yet. Sonic raised his eyes with a little more vigor, however. "But I promise, help _is_ going to come. Just hang in there a little longer, buddy."

The fox could feel a plan coming along, his brain already tinkering away at what he could do. Now that Scourge's power was down, there hopefully wouldn't be anymore mind slaves coming after them. They were a little safer, and they could move more freely from outside. If Tails could just get his hands on a damaged helicopter, he could repair it and get the hell out of there. And he had a feeling their robot 'friend' would help out with that too. _"I think I already got a plan."_ The fox said with a smirk.

Sonic smiled back. "That's my little man. Don't forget, I believe in you. Always."

Shadow gently pushed Sonic aside to get a better view in the screen. "We both do." The black and red striped hedgehog then glanced at Sonic. "But, I think it's time we finally got some rest. You all as well, if you can find a place that is. Again, we're sorry for that."

Tails shook his head as some of their friends gathered behind him. It was Vanilla and Amy, looking over Tails' shoulder with small smiles. The small rabbit girl Cream was not in her mother's arms, but they assumed Rouge or Knuckles was now currently watching over her. _"Hey, there's literally nothing you can do. You still need to be there. Like I said, I got a plan to get everybody to Angel Island since we don't need to stay in this crummy room anymore for a connection."_ The fox gave a confident thumbs up. _"We'll be alright!"_

Amy and Vanilla nodded with him. However, that's when the adult rabbit got a bit closer and directed her attention specifically to Shadow. _"U-Um,"_ She began. _"Miss Rouge told me to tell you 'this', Shadow."_ The woman then took her hands to make a heart symbol, before pointing to Sonic's direction. _"I-I honestly have no idea what this means, but she said you would."_ Both Tails and Amy weren't sure what she was referring to, only assuming that Rouge's message was to say that she loved Shadow. And that was normal, but Sonic on the other hand was starting to get it. Some blushes appeared on his peach muzzle, and he looked away quickly. Shadow then smirked, as he instantly understood the message.

"I understand completely, Miss Vanilla. Tell Rouge this in return, if you don't mind." The Ultimate life form gave a thumbs up at first, until he gave two thumbs up to the screen with a blatant smirk.

Vanilla blinked, before smiling cheerfully. _"Oh good! I'm happy I could help, sort of."_

Sonic quickly slapped his arms down with an beet red muzzle. He then took the smart device into his lap again and watched as Vanilla moved out of the way. "We're gonna get some rest, it feels like we're about to pass out."

Tails nodded. _"Alright, Sonic. We'll talk again soon."_ Both the kitsune and Amy smiled and waved. _"See ya later!"_

Sonic smiled and waved back, before reluctantly shutting off the device. He sighed once he did. He moved to get up and place the device over on the nightstand, before going back and sitting on the bed. He covered his face with both of his hands and hunched over. Shadow watched this with some concern, and moved closer to him to try and comfort him. He placed his hand back on his shoulder, lightly rubbing against it tenderly. He probably had a million things on his mind right now, and no doubt he felt horrible about everything's that's transpired today. "Sonic-"

"I'm sorry." The hero said.

Shadow blinked. "What for?"

"For saying that to Scourge." As Sonic kept his face hidden away from him, Shadow remembered what Sonic told him. That'd be willing to let him have his way with him right in front of the ultimate life form in order to save him from death. All without hesitation. "I just, wanted to stall him. Try to come up with a way to stop him, but then Z showed up and saved our asses." Sonic rubbed the palms of his hands into his eyes. "I know that hurt you, but-"

"Sonic," It was Shadow's turn to stop him for a change. "There is nothing to apologize for. Not from you. I should be the one apologizing, I'm the one who got you hurt." He trailed his hand lower, touching his arm. "I made things extremely difficult for you during the battle. I patronized you, and I mistreated you. Looking back on all that I did, I understand why you turned into Dark so easily a second time. I was a nuisance to you." He lowered his gaze at the sheets, dropped his hold to his hand. He grasped his wrist, handling it delicately in his glove. "No amount of apologies can fix what I put you through." He realized that the blue one had no intentions of talking back, or even continuing the conversation. He just wanted to go to bed. Shadow just said he couldn't fix this but, he wanted to. He _needed_ to. He didn't want Sonic to stay like this, especially not because of him. Shadow knew he wasn't the only reason why Sonic was upset, but that didn't matter. He wanted all of his stress to go away, he just wanted to see him smile before they slept. Shadow stood up from the bed and let go of Sonic's wrist. He walked in front of him with tightened fists. "Actually, there is one thing I can do for you." He said with more drive in his voice.

To this, Sonic just slowly let his hands down away from his face. He gazed at Shadow with both a tired and confused look. The ultimate life form then placed his arms behind his back, and got on one knee.

Execution style.

"Release your emotions onto me."

"..!?"

Shadow nodded as he saw the twist of shock contort onto Sonic's face. "Use Dark to release everything you feel, onto me."

Sonic shook his head quickly. "Absolutely not, I'm not angry with you anymore. I couldn't do that to you, not in my right mind."

The black hedgehog furrowed his brows with a grimace. "Sonic, ever since we fused, our wavelengths became stronger than ever. I feel all of your emotions every second of the day, and I'm sure you feel mine right now." He needed Sonic to do this. Not just for his own sake, but for the hero's sake as well. Shadow wanted to repent, but Sonic needed to heal. Acceptance was a great part of that, but retribution also helped. "You can feel my guilt, my self-resentment for giving you so much bullshit at the worst time of your life, all in one day. I can feel the lack of vengeance you feel in your heart, and you need to act on it appropriately, or you will never rest easy."

The blue one became offended. "I don't do revenge, Shadow. That's the exact same thing I taught you _not_ to act upon!" Sonic stood up and turned away from him. "I, I don't wanna talk about this. I'm taking a shower."

Shadow refused to let him walk away. He followed immediately and grabbed his arm. He didn't want to hurt him, but he didn't want him to leave. "Sonic, you may be a hero, but at your core, you're the same as everyone else and you know that." He said with a sincere tone. "Victims would love nothing more than to seek justice. If someone hurts you or someone else you love, you'd probably find satisfaction in seeing the culprit miserable, wouldn't you?" He could feel Sonic's denial of this, even as he didn't say it. He just continued to look away from him, trying to pull his arm back. "You are a good person-No, a great person. You have high morals and standards but you need to face the truth." He let go of his arm and instantly moved in front of him to block the door. "This time, I'm not trying to patronize you, I promise. But you need to listen to me. You can't fault yourself for feeling hatred towards someone for doing something wrong to you. It's okay to hate, it's okay to feel angry, it's okay to want to rip the entire world apart for damning you over and over." He could see Sonic slowly look him in the eyes. "But it is _not_ okay to restrain your feelings, and keep them contained in a bottle. Because the more you do, the more you're destroying yourself. And the more you'll risk destroying everyone else around you when that bottle shatters. You're tough, but you can only take so much. I know that, _you_ know that."

Sonic listened closely at his words, but then he shook his head and turned away from him again while crossing his arms.

"I get it," Shadow told him with care. "You don't like acting on revenge because it can be a toxic emotion that hurts everyone involved. Not just the enemy, but you too. So if you won't act upon vengeance, you at least need to learn how to be comfortable with letting go of your frustration. But you also need to learn how to embrace that feeling and accept it if you truly want to heal yourself."

The blue hedgehog growled, his fingers squeezing against his own fur. "...People were killed and I couldn't stop it." He replied quietly. "You were wrong to call me an idiot back at the field. As a hero, I know I can't save everyone, and I know people die. I've seen death before this, even as a little kid. Granted, not as much as you, but enough." His tone was bitter and shaky, but Shadow was glad he was opening up to him at all. "But I've failed. I failed Zonic, I failed Tails and our friends, and I failed myself. So many people died, all because of my shitty ass bloodline...!" He yelled. He slowly slouched, lowering his head towards the floor. "I'm not, angry with just you. I'm angry at _everything_ , including myself. Angry that we couldn't get home fast enough before our world was destroyed. Angry that I wasn't strong enough to stop Scourge from turning me into something I'm ashamed of twice. Angry that I can't shrug things off like I usually do. I hate being this way," He held up a hand to the side of his head, gripping it. "I hate being so emotional, I hate it! That's why I bottle everything and let **him** handle all of it. It's too annoying dealing with all of this negativity, and it's driving me crazy. It's better not to feel anything at all. I want it all to go away! This guilt, this depression, this anger, everything!"

"Then you need to let go-"

Sonic whipped his head at him. "How the hell do I let go of my own fuck ups!?" He hollered. "I'm a horrible older brother. Tails looks like a damn mess in there, and so does everyone else! Their fur is stained with blood and dirt, there's wounds all over their bodies. Rouge, Amy and Vanilla got hurt, and Cream was passed out!" He began pacing around the room, pulling at his hair. "We're here having a good time like a bunch of drunk assholes, going on dates and fucking around like nothing's wrong! Zonic loses his own love, and now he's going insane. We destroyed his city and his home, while we let our own world fall to the hands of my own anti-self." Tears were starting to develop in the corners of his eyes. "Chaos, why aren't _you_ pissed off!? Why don't _you_ want to destroy everything?! _Why!?_ "

Once upon a time, Shadow was the kind of person who wanted nothing more than to see the world crash and burn. But he changed, and he only changed thanks to Maria and Sonic. He didn't want that anymore, and he refused to let his anger ever go that far again. Sadly, Sonic was beginning to reach that very same stage he pulled him out of so many years ago. That darkness, that rage, there was no light. It was a void of endless misery and self-destruction. Shadow supposed now was his time to return the favor. "Because you taught me better, didn't you?"

"..." The hero had no immediate retort for that. He just turned away from Shadow and walked back to the bed.

Shadow could feel Sonic's rage, it was breaching. All he had to do was tip it over a little more, and he would break. And once he broke, he'd let it all out. He'd let it all go and he would be free from his own hell. "I _am_ angry Sonic, but I've learned to take control. Something you miserably fail to achieve, even after maturing." He scolded in a light tone. "You're clearly still mad at me, and a lot of other factors. I could understand why, though." These were going to be some low blows, but Sonic needed to hear this. "I left you stranded in the ocean with Scourge, leaving you vulnerable with your stalker who could have killed you and maybe even worse." He took a few steps closer. "I kissed Zonic, your own Overseer, and even tried to hide it from you. Of course, I was just giving him CPR, but the commander was hallucinating and went a bit overboard. I even patronized you, and scolded you for showing emotion towards death and warfare." He could feel Sonic's anger rise, his shoulders were shaking. He wouldn't look at him. "Today, I caused all of your pain. Every second of it."

"N-No..." He sniffed. "It's...Not you...It can't be you.." He continued shaking his head back and forth, extreme denial. "You don't understand...If it's you...I'm going to hurt you, too."

Shadow wanted that. "It's okay to be angry with me Sonic, you have every right."

" _No!_ " He suddenly yelled. "It's because I wasn't strong enough-"

Shadow scowled and took on a more harsher approach. "Quit running away from your emotions, and stop being a coward! You can't be scared of yourself like this!" He came closer and roughly pulled Sonic towards him, forcing him to face him while gripping his shoulders.

"Shut up..." Sonic whispered with a deadly hiss.

The black hedgehog roughly shook him. "You need to accept yourself, and you need to accept your emotions!"

"Shut up."

"Stop running away from Dark and just accept his power already!"

"I sa **id SHUT UP!** "

Shadow was suddenly knocked into one of the posts of the bed frame, before falling onto the floor. Blood dripped from the side of his mouth, his muzzle now bruised. He winced in pain, and slowly lifted his head to look in front of him.

...He got what he wanted.

Dark Sonic was tearfully standing right in front of him.

* * *

Zobotnik slammed his good fist against the wall of the medical ward's corridor. "You little wretch!" He spat aggressively. The moment Zonic returned in the HQ, the Warden was notified and he was clearly not happy. "You've some nerve returning back here after the things you've said to me-!"

"Hey, could you stop talking please?" Zonic nonchalantly asked as he passed by the large man with his men. Zector and Zespio were a bit nervous as they walked passed their general, feeling another argument coming along. They were escorting their commander to a specific medical room. Other nurses and doctors were now calmly and more efficiently handling their soldiers. Things were getting done quicker, and more soldiers were getting back on their feet with better health. Ever since Zonic barged in and ordered for everyone to get their damn acts together, the HQ was back on track. The Warden the entire time did, well nothing.

The mustached human made a disgruntled growl. "How dare you...!" He stomped his foot, causing his colonels to flinch and stop. Anyone around them stopped as well, with both nurses and doctors pausing in their tracks. They all faced their Warden and saluted, lightly sweating anxiously as Zonic slowed to a halt. Things were now dead quiet, and as if it was possible, anyone could hear everyone else quietly breathe. The hedgehog's left eye twitch, and he gradually turned around to look in Zobotnik's direction. Zobotnik angrily pointed towards Zonic. "You tore off your medals, you go through my files, and you destroy the window in my office!" He continued to march his way over in front of Zonic, carelessly shoving the colonels out of the way as he stepped directly in front of him. "You disrespect me, humiliate me in from of your peers, talk to me any way you damn well please like some juvenile! I figured with Zhadow taking you under his wing, you'd clean up your act, but you only grew worse!"

Every worker or soldier in that corridor's eyes widened, as it was an obvious sin to talk about the former lieutenant general in front of their commander.

"I should have never agreed to raise you here, you abomination!" He hollered. "You and your entire race are nothing but a danger! I should have told your Grand Overseer ancestors to kiss my ass and take you back where you came from when I had the chance! I don't want you breathing in my damn facility," The volume in his voice decreased. "You were discharged from No Zone militia the second you ripped off your medals at me. Leave, this instant."

Everyone was alarmed at this. Zonic was basically fired or had quit not too long ago, so he wasn't supposed to be here right now. Their beloved commander, he no longer was a No Zone soldier? The very person who led their people into war and ended it with a bloody victory? They couldn't believe that.

His eye twitch was getting worse.

His head was going to burst. He was going to yell and hurt someone, really, really badly again. Blood on his hands, blood on his uniform, blood on the floors...Zonic slowly breathed in, and just as slowly breathed out. He tilted his head with a flat frown. "Did you forget the conversation we had earlier, Zobotnik?" He asked calmly.

"What, do you have wax up your ears? Get the hell out of here-!"

Zonic made a low snarl, his newly enlightened bright green eyes glaring swords into the human's body. "I could have sworn I told you that anything regarding Sonic prime or anti-Sonic, was my business and mine alone."

Zobotnik flinched at the hedgehog's dark expression. "That has nothing to do with-"

"You had your turn to speak, you will shut your mouth and listen to what I have to say." The former commander hissed with fanged teeth. "Those two are _my_ sole responsibilities as the Grand Overseer. I will be there for the interrogation, I will be there for the trial, and damn it," He shoved his thumb against his own chest. "I will be here simply _because I want to!_ " He yelled. "I am the Grand Overseer. I am in charge of keeping watch of all Chaos Born brought into this universe. I am in charge of the single most powerful beings in existence, and you dare continue to give me orders as if you're superior to _me?_ Are you mad!?" He shouted ferociously. "My ancestors only gave me to you because the No Zone military were supposed to keep me safe. I only chose to join the force so I could have a better chance of doing my job by keeping my brethren safe. I've already failed the both of them too many times, and I refuse to do it again. So I'm not going to let anyone keep me away from my duty, and I'm certainly not going to let you stand in my way any longer!" The twitch in his eye was growing even worse. "It's thanks to you that Scourge is a problem anyway, through your own cowardice is the only reason why those spirits spared your miserable life. So why don't you just keep your damn mouth shut, and leave me alone?"

With shocked expressions, everyone including Zobotnik watched as Zonic angrily pushed passed the human and made his way deeper down the corridor. He was going in the direction of the hospice section, where there were now numerous unconscious bodies.

Zonic returned to the room 304, slamming and locking the door so no one could get inside. He traveled to his favorite place, the chair in front of Zhadow's bed. No one moved it from last time, good. Saved him the trouble. Zonic sat down, and closed his eyes while resting his hands in his lap. This is the only place he could feel at ease, where he could find some warped sense of happiness. This was the only place he could feel sane, in complete serenity. He loved Zhadow, he loved him so much. Why did he tell him off then? Why was that the last thing he told him?

* * *

 _Zhadow stood in front of his rookie's desk and put a hand on his hip. "Zonic, for the love of Chaos, just stop."_

 _Zonic sighed and rose his eyes from his paperwork. "What are you on about?" He really wasn't in the mood right now._

 _"You're going to pass out again, stop working. You're not even studying like you're supposed to."_

 _"First lieutenant, please." Zonic looked back down to continue writing. "It is none of your concern."_

 _The first lieutenant general scowled and slammed his hand on the desk, directly on top of his pile of paperwork to make Zonic stop. "Damn it,_ you _are my concern. And as your superior, I'm telling you to stop and take a break." He took his hand away. "What is with you? You've been passing out more often than you can actually patrol. Now you're neglecting your studies, and all you care about is rising in the ranks. You can't go any further, what are you even aiming for?"_

 _He really didn't feel like hearing this right now. Zonic pinched the bridge of his nose. "We've had this conversation."_

 _"And that conversation was just as pointless and asinine as this one. You cannot be the general, you weren't meant to be the general. Zobotnik is in charge whether you like it or not. Your Overseers didn't want you to be a soldier in the first place, they wanted you to be hidden as a normal citizen with our protection. And yet for some reason, the older retired No Zone officers that were entrusted with your life, decided it was a great idea to make you one of us." He sighed. "While I understand why they'd want you to be trained to protect not only yourself and other Chaos Born, I don't understand why you're fighting so hard to be the best."_

 _Zonic scowled. "It's not about being the best, and you know that. I don't care for status, I want to be the general so I can have the power that I need to protect my brothers with ease. With the best military force in the universe, I could do so much more to ensure their safety."_

 _Zhadow just sighed and shook his head. "You're too stubborn." He crossed his arms. "I know how you are when you get like this, so I can't change your mind."_

 _"No, you can't." Zonic retorted dismissively. "That being said, I'm going to Moebius to patrol and investigate Scourge's whereabouts in about an hour or so. I'm going to need you to secure HQ while I'm gone."_

 _His superior dragged a hand over his face. "You're going to give me ulcers." He groaned. "Take. A damn. Break. What if you fall unconscious out there? What if the anti-Sonic is still around running amok and he gets to you?" He walked around the desk and tried to be more understanding, his voice becoming more compassionate and soft. "Look, I'll take you out for lunch myself. We could eat together." He tried to smile, reaching out his hand to caress his face and turn to him. "Don't you want to sit with me for a while, instead of glaring your eyes into boring white copy paper all day? Or maybe," He smirked. "We could swing by my apartment, and keep you in my bedroom for a private training session. Just so you can relieve all that stress." His smirk fell when he realized Zonic stopped writing completely, and just glared into his superior's eyes. "Zonic, I just want you to-"_

 _"I don't care what you want, I'm doing my job." He stood up out of the chair and snatched himself away from him. "I'm sick of you using sex to try and pull me away from my work."_

 _A vein was starting to throb on Zhadow's head. "That wasn't the point, rookie."_

 _"Then what is the point?! Why do you have such a problem with me being dedicated to my responsibilities?"_

 _"Because you're killing yourself!" Zhadow exclaimed as he smashed his fist onto the desk's surface. "You don't eat, you don't sleep, you exercise way too often and purge whatever you manage to consume back in a toilet! You're going to develop an eating disorder just like the anti-Sonic. You're going right back to how you used to be. You're health is deteriorating, and I refuse to sit by and let you hurt yourself like this. So instead, I'm going to Moebius, not you!"_

 _"You don't have the right to decide that!"_

 _Zhadow scoffed. "Oh yes I do, because I have more authority than you. So you can sign paperwork until your hands fall off from malnourishment, but you'll never top me." He sarcastically laughed as Zonic's eyes widened from that low blow. "Are you kidding me? You wouldn't last two seconds in Moebius, you would collapse the instant you got there. So I'm forbidding it, it's too dangerous for you."_

 _Zonic clenched his teeth in anger, then pointed to the door of his office. "Then just go. Just go and get out of my sight! As if you're any match for the anti-Sonic. You go ahead and get yourself killed! See if I care."_

 _"I'm glad we both agree, rookie." Zhadow dismissively retorted as he sharply turned his back towards him, walking to the door, slamming it closed and leaving._

 _The second lieutenant general sat back down in his seat, slumping against it as he covered his face with both hands._

* * *

Why did he say that to him?

Because he was cranky that day? Because he was telling a truth he didn't want to hear? Because he couldn't be bothered with taking a small break to spend quality time with his love? Zhadow cared about him more than anyone he had ever met in his life. Zonic was developing a bad eating habit when he overworked himself back then. It was so bad, that anything he consumed he immediately threw back up. He starved himself because of this, but starving himself was the cause of it. His stomach just wasn't used to eating so much, used to being shriveled up and weak. It rejected nutrients after a while, So Zonic figured it was just better to stop eating at all.

But Zhadow pulled him away from that. He helped him through physical therapy, he made him soup whenever he was too ill to come into work at his apartment. He took care of him, he nurtured him until he was able to get back on his feet. He remembered when Zonic accidentally lost feeling in his entire arm from severe carpal tunnel, but Zhadow volunteered to take over all of his paperwork until he got better. He trained him personally, he taught him how to shoot. He gave him valuable life and military lessons, and he molded him into a fine soldier.

His sex was amazing, and he made him feel better about himself. He bought him gifts, he bought him sweets, he gave him anything he could possibly want in life. Zonic was so joyous back then, he couldn't be any happier with him around. Even as a creature made from science, Zhadow was introduced to a spectrum of emotions that he desperately wanted to show Zonic as his lover. He shared those feelings with him, and now Zonic couldn't live without it. He missed him so much.

But, it was okay.

It was his fault Zhadow was in a coma, but he accepted that now.

His love for him and his memories would never die. He could take the hedgehog off of life support, let him pass on so he didn't have to suffer anymore. "Hello, Zhadow." He murmured. "The war is over, it's finally done. But we still have to deal with Scourge." Zonic looked over at the heart monitor, and the plug that had him wired to the machine that kept him breathing. All he had to do was pull out that plug, just yank it out while saying goodbye. He knew Zhadow would do the same for him if he was in the same position. This was out of love. He needed to let go, and Zhadow needed to rest indefinitely. "We'll be fine, though. Without you. And I thank you for everything you've ever done for me." He slowly smiled. "Heh. I'm still so infatuated with you, I'm miserable because of it. I think I need to start up some therapy sessions with Zouge. I'm..." That smile slowly widened. "...Completely out of my mind because of you. It's consuming me. That's how much I feel for you. If you could, you'd be smirking at me now, wouldn't you?" He rose his hand towards the thick wire, moving to grasp it. "I'll never stop feeling the way I feel for you, Zhadow. And I'll never forget you. I..."

He held up his hand and grasped the comatosed hedgehog's wrist, holding it softly.

"Love you..." His bone structure felt so thin now, all Zonic had to do was yank the cord. "...Zhadow." All he had to do was pull. His fur was so cold-

Wait a minute, no it wasn't.

Zonic stopped immediately, and slowly took his hand away from the life support machine's wires. He then took a real good stare at his lover's supposedly comatosed body. His eyes were _closed_ now for some reason. Zhadow's eyes were open the entire time he was unconscious up until now. His fur was no longer gray, it was a shiny pitch black. It looked smooth, it even looked groomed. His body mass returned to normal for some reason, and he looked fit just like he used to. His chest was moving up and down at a steady rate, not too slow or fast. His heart beat was no longer weak, it was beeping on the monitor at an average speed. A healthy speed, he should add. His muzzle was no longer pale, and he looked healthy again. And, and was he snoring? Was that drool dripping down his tan lips through that oxygen mask? His hands even felt warm.

Did he need to get his eyes checked?

How the hell was any of this even possible? Zonic didn't heal him, and he was positive chaotic powers from normal Chaos Born users couldn't bring people back from comas. No, only Divine Spirits could produce miracles like that. Zonic did not possess any blessing nor super forms when he was birthed, so why-

Divine Spirits...

 _An explosion erupted from within the city, along with a bright red light illuminating._

Zonic's eyes widened with revelation.

When Scourge was struck with that missile, a red light blinded them all. Not only that, but when they took his body to arrest him, he was completely drained of power and energy. The cuffs they put on him couldn't weaken him anymore than what he already was, he was completely dried out from the battle. Scourge was the one who put Zhadow in a coma by manipulating his mind into thinking he was shot in the brain. He made Zhadow think he was killed, when he wasn't. That's why he was in a coma, because he was stuck in a limbo he trapped himself in. But if Scourge's power depleted entirely when that happened, then did that mean his power of Zhadow's coma was over too?

Zonic's heart started to beat as fast as he was panting. He was out of breath, his body was getting too excited. Was Zhadow okay? He stood up and reached his hands down to caress his lover's muzzle. "Z-Zhadow?" He stuttered. "Are you, are you alive...?" His eyes were getting moist, this couldn't be happening. It _shouldn't_ be happening.

A low rumble within the black hedgehog's throat made him flinch. His eyes fluttered opened slowly, his now bright red ruby eyes gazing at his lime irises. His mouth closed, his snoring coming to an abrupt stop. His eyes dilated a bit as he surveyed his surroundings. Okay, a white room. A hospital room, it looked like. A lot of wires, some machines next to the bed he was laying in. There was a bunch of plastic on his face too, and he could feel wires roped inside of his body. God that felt uncomfortable. He could barely move with this crap shifting inside of him. He furrowed his brows, his eyes soon settling on a blue hedgehog in front of him. He grunted, gradually moving a weak arm towards his mouth. He mustered the strength to pull off the oxygen mask, a smile growing on his muzzle. Even with thin tubes in his mouth, he couldn't help but show how overjoyed he was.

The first person he got to see was his beloved, after all.

"...Zonic."

* * *

 **END - 36**

 **Arc 1 - Scourge's Return: Chapters 1 - 12**

 **Arc 2 - No Zone: Chapters 13 - 27**

 **Arc 3 - ?: Chapters ? - ?**

 **...**

 **Someone was surprised that the story is only a little more than half over. Well, here's a 'floor plan' I made that roughly depicts how long the story is as of now. Mind you, the story has been completely mapped out nearly a year ago, I'm just taking my slow ass time to write it all out. Not only that, but I keep adding things to my plans too, so things get a bit delayed here and there. This is by far my longest story ever, and I don't think I'll ever write another with this many chapters or words again.**

 **Just want you guys to know how dedicated I am into writing this.**


	41. display obedience

**Warning, this chapter depicts extreme self harm, and emotional abuse. Scourge acts absolutely despicable in this one.**

 **You have been warned.**

* * *

 **6 (?) - A Joke (?)**

* * *

 ** _Months Before Sonic's Kidnapping_**

 _The echidna watched the vixen walk inside of the room, obviously stressed out and irritated by something. She walked by him, her tail swishing as she sat on top of the long dinner table surface. She pushed away any dishes that were near her and leaned back on her two palms while crossing her legs. She sighed heavily, before glancing over at the fellow Moebian. He adjusted his black hat, and narrowed his eyes at her._

 _"I assume he pissed ya off again." He muttered, as he wasn't that interested in another one of their quarrels. Ever since that devil turned green, things between ol' Bonnie and Clyde were falling apart._

 _"You assumed right." She scoffed. "That obvious, huh? I couldn't really fake my attitude, sorry about that."_

 _"Nothin' to be ashamed of lass. I'm sure spendin' enough time with that eejit's bound to get someone down eventually." He raised his gloved hand to his mouth and plucked the toothpick from his lips. "But then again, you two's been at it like a couple of maggots for the past three weeks."_

 _"It's the same as yesterday and the day before that, but it all really started last week." She said in an exasperated tone. "Then again, it's probably a little too raunchy for you to hear." Normally, she'd joke around with whatever the argument was about, acting as if it wasn't a big deal. But this time, he could see the look in her eyes, that something really screwed her up some time ago._

 _"I've heard a lot from your squabblin' before, don't hold back on me now. If you want to, that is." He added quickly. In other words, he didn't really want to hear it. He was sure Fiona didn't catch on to his true intentions, though. With his calm and soft spoken voice, no one would realize if he was being sarcastic or malicious. But right now, he was done with listening to her stupid sob stories about the kid. She should just break up with him already if he's such a problem. Not that he would actually say to her. Because she would one, not listen, or two, tell Scourge. He didn't feel like dealing with either scenario, so he just stayed subtle for now._

 _"Okay then," She turned to him and sat up to lean a little closer to him. Miles was still nearby, and she didn't want the kid to overhear such a conversation. "So we were doing it-"_

 _"Great start, lass."_

 _She hushed him with a frown. "Shut it! Listen," She cleared her throat and continued with a bit of a blush. "We were doing it, but things...went south."_

 _"..South?" He raised a brow._

 _"Yeah." She nodded with a solemn expression. "Before that, earlier that day, I uhh...Called out_ you-know-who's _name."_

 _O'Nux just closed his eyes and looked away with a scowl. "What kind of woman screams out another man's name durin' a time like that? That's what harlots do, girl." He said in a disgusted tone. He wasn't one to pass judgement on anyone, as anyone who's ever lived in this world has sinned at least once in their life before, but he hated deceit on the lines of wrath, pride or lust._

 _"I'm not a damn harlot! I'm-" She cut herself off, and then sighed again while looking down. She pulled some hair from her face and stared at the table's reflection, looking at herself. "I'm, not like that. I just, I don't mean to do it. 'Cause it really hurts him, and I hate to do that to him."_

 _"That's what cheaters say." He pointed out with a flat voice. "Speakin' of which, he still doesn't know?"_

 _"Know what?" She blinked, until she caught onto what he was asking. "...No, he doesn't." She rubbed her arm for self comfort. So maybe she slept with a couple guys before in order to gather information or goods for Scourge's sake. He just thought she was really good at scamming people of their merchandise, but no. She used other ways to get what he wanted. He didn't know about it, and he hopefully never would. Only O'Nux knew about this, as she always came to him about her personal gripes. He just continued to shake his head at her, holding up a cup of hot steaming coffee and silently sipping it as she confessed to him. "Anyway, he got really mad. So the last time we did it again, he made it unbearable. Everything was just terrible, and he even hurt me a little down there. He said he did it on purpose, for revenge. I was bleeding for a while."_

 _The guardian opened his eyes at that, taking the mug away from his face. That repulsed him even more, and she could see his revulsion on his now scrunched up expression. "What?" He hissed._

 _"Yeah. I mean, I kinda deserved it-"_

 _He slammed his mug on the table, nearly shattering it upon impact. "No one deserves that!" He growled. "No man should treat any woman like some worn out doll, no matter what the circumstances are! Violence in general makes me sick, but violence towards a female is just...evil!" He exclaimed in great animosity. "That damn gobshite..!"_

 _"Keep your voice down!" She hushed him again while waving her hand at him. "He could hear you, and I'm sure you don't want to fight him again."_

 _"Tch..." He darted his eyes away from her. "You need to stop being such a doormat."_

 _She was flattered by his outrage, but he wouldn't understand. He's never been in love before, and he didn't know Scourge like she did. She just exhaled quietly before continuing again. "He screamed at me, and, yanked my hair back. But then, he got really quiet and stopped. He looked guilty and sad and, just told me to leave. He said he didn't want to hurt me like that ever again, and that he needed to get himself together."_

 _"This is still the other week, what happened earlier?"_

 _Fiona twisted the side of her mouth in a grimace. "I tried getting him into bed, and he got all pissy. Saying that all I would do is moan his name and get him riled up again."_

 _"Are you ever not horny?" He questioned suspiciously. After receiving a glare from the fox, he decided to try and give her the best advice he could muster. "Since you won't break up with him for some God forsaken reason, lay off." He said roughly. "Give him space, don't antagonize him if you know he'll just bite your tongue out." The echidna raised his mug again, but directed it towards her as a gesture. "You're only giving yourself added stress, and you constantly yappin' at each other's not gonna fix anythin'." Once he finished saying what he needed to say, he saw that her face was turning more sorrowful by the minute. He softened his expression and his tone. "Listen Fiona," He whispered her name softly. "You're in love with him, aren't ya?"_

 _"Yeah but," She trailed off, slightly biting her lip._

 _He then realized what was going on here. To this, he just placed the mug down and dragged his hand over his face. "There should never be a 'but', when being asked somethin' like that." He put his hand down and looked up at her with slight sympathy and even some disappointment. "You're not anymore, are you?"_

 _"I am! I really am, I...He's just, different now." She sounded more than just conflicted._

 _"Even so, you're not really in love with the eejit if you're doin' and sayin' stuff like that." The elder Moebian pushed the mug to the side and tapped his glove against the table. "No wonder he's been at ya throat, he knows it too. You're makin' everythin' too obvious, lass." O'Nux lowered his eyes at her, as he wanted to feel more pity for her, but he couldn't. She brought more grief upon herself every single day she continued to live here with that asshole. She won't listen to reason, she just won't. "You're scared of him, too."_

 _"..." She didn't speak back, at first. That is, until she started chuckling to herself. She giggled, causing O'Nux to widen his eyes in alarm. She found this humorous? The hell was she laughing about?_

 _"O-Oi," He stammered at her reaction, watching carefully as she looked over at him with a small smile._

 _"O'Nux, you're probably the wisest guy I've ever met who's so naive to love. How ironic," She commented with another small laugh. "Maybe, maybe you're right." She admitted with a calm tone, causing him to gape with a puzzled expression. Why the sudden change of heart?_

 _"Err, yeah." He nodded slowly. "What changed your mind?"_

 _Fiona shrugged, putting her elbow on her knee and placing the chin of her muzzle in her hand. "The fact that compared to how he was before, he's kind of a joke now." She used her other hand to twirl some of her hair around her finger. "He was so weak and scared back then, but he was so reckless and crazy too. He was the perfect cross between innocent and psychotic, at least in my eyes." The vixen dropped her hair from her finger and reached up to grasp the bow fastened on her head. He gave this to her some time ago, as a birthday gift. "But now, he's just bad. He's still psychotic, but that's it. There's no innocence left. He's still weak, but in all the wrong ways."_

 _O'Nux squinted. "What..?"_

 _"What I mean is, that's what I found attractive about him the most. Not just because he was a bad-boy version of him, but because he was a lot weaker than how he made himself out to be. I could relate to him, connect with him a lot better that way." Her frown faded a bit. "But ever since he got smart again, he just comes off like he's better than everyone else. In a way, he kind of is. He's not as romantic, or sensitive. He's," Her mouth became a flat line. "Someone I don't know." That's when the corners of her mouth tried to curl again, genuinely feeling a sense of humor rustle her vocal cords once again to laugh. She snickered quietly, lightly grinning as she thought about her 'lover'. "Yeah, I think that's the joke. The fact that he's just the former shell of what I really want. A real fucked up punchline, ain't it? I still got feelings for him, but maybe I shouldn't feel too bad about lusting after_ Sonic _anymore."_

 _This time, O'Nux was the one who was speechless. He stared at her with an unreadable look, not daring to say another word to that._

 _That was, something he couldn't give his opinion on._

* * *

 _Scourge was going to to the dining hall to find Fiona, and apologize to her for his behavior. He straight up snapped at her for nothing, and he felt bad. He was even smiling, ignoring anything else that bothered him. Even that weird spirit thing of himself couldn't irritate him, because he was confident they'd mend their relationship back up again. He wanted to say he was sorry, tell her he loved her and that he knew he was a fuck up. That he knew he was terrible with her, and that he knew she wanted things to be how they were before he was green. Things were so, easy back then. He wanted to propose to her, make promises._

 _Until he overheard her and O'Nux talking._

 _Though they were mostly whispering, using inside voices in fear of being caught, Scourge heard it all behind the corner in the corridor. So that's what she really thought about him._

 _A joke._

 _His smile fell slowly as he let her words shoot him directly into his ears. He wished he could be deaf right about now, as he didn't want to hear it. Not only did she cheat on him more than once, but she didn't even want him, just like he always thought. She strongly defended against this in arguments, swearing that wasn't the case. But he got it straight from the source herself, she no longer loved him anymore. She still wanted that damn blue bastard. He could tell that even though O'Nux despised him, even he was put off by Fiona's sudden change._

 _He asked her not to do this, he begged her not to hurt him so many times. He promised her she'd regret it, that he couldn't be hurt anymore by anyone else ever again. If she did, his heart would permanently break this time. There would be nothing else in this world that could ever fix it again. And yet, here she was, plainly admitting to someone else how much she no longer wanted him._

 _Ha, he didn't care..._

 _His eyes may have been lowered and, maybe a little moist and empty but, he didn't..._

 _He didn't...care..._

 _Didn't..._

 _..._

 _...He was crying._

 _His tears had clouded up his irises, and his mouth started to twitch. He refused to cry, he hadn't cried in years and refused to do it now. He was so tired, so tired and sick of being used, being played, being cheated, being hurt. He couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't take it. His chest was swelling up, and it hurt so bad. He felt ulcers shrivel up his fur and his skin, his chest was on fire, yet he felt so cold. His hands balled up into fists, his body trembled as he felt weak to stand. He leaned towards the wall, slowly sliding down. He sat down, bringing his knees up to his chest and placing his fists on his knees. He stared down at the dusty old red carpeted floors, watching droplets of his own tears moisten the fabric._

 _He sniffed sharply, his mouth moistened up as well. The pain was settling in everywhere now, he felt like he was going to die. That was anxiety for you, it just destroyed you from within in seconds. He hated himself so much, he hated that he was even alive. He was going to think about this, and repeat her words to himself over and over until he met his grave. Maybe even afterwards. He had to do something, he had to take control, and force himself to stop crying. To stop feeling._

 _Ah, he had an idea._

* * *

 _"Scourge?" Fiona called as she walked down the corridor that led to the king's chambers. That was where his bedroom was, and Miles said he saw the hedgehog run upstairs for some reason. She sighed to herself, they needed to talk about this. Maybe she really should break it off, and stop this nonsense before they ended up hurting each other even more. This, was a very unhealthy relationship, that was much was evident. She knew it all along, she just wanted to believe she still loved him after everything they've been through together._

 _He was her everything, and she was his. They truly loved before, but now, now things were just dreadful. Scourge didn't deserve someone like her, he needed someone better. And in turn, she needed someone who was normal. This bad-boy stuff really bit her in the ass in the end, for a life that only did her more harm than good. She still wanted to help him kill those deities, but until then, they needed to separate. Who knows? Maybe things between them would get better. She couldn't frown about the future, she had to smile for what was to come._

 _Yeah, she'd smile. Maybe she could give them both the break they've needed._

 _She walked to the large double doors, placing her hands on the knobs. She looked up, her face becoming determined. Yes, she would do this. They wouldn't argue, just talk seriously with open minds. Scourge wasn't who she wanted anymore, and he was going to understand that. Well, he kind of already did, but he needed to hear her admit it. With a grunt, she twisted the knobs and pushed the doors open. She stepped in, quickly turning to close the doors back behind her. As she closed them with her back turned, she smelled a strong aroma of copper._

 _Was that blood?_

 _She then looked up at the walls, realizing how dark the room was as there were no shadows from the chandelier above. Why were the lights off?_

 _Fiona then felt something horrible, like her instincts just knew something was wrong._

 _She slowly turned around with her back facing the door. Her eyes steadily locked onto the center of the room, where she saw blood splatters all over in only that area. The furniture nearby, was either destroyed or bloodied as well. The carpets, soiled with bloodshed. Even the curtains for the large window in the back were stained. Her blue eyes began to shrink smaller and smaller with each second that passed by. In the middle of the pool of blood, Scourge was barely standing. He was looking directly at her, his own bat in his hands. It was covered in his own blood as well, with some splinters falling off of it. That's how hard he hit himself with it, that he nearly broke it. His legs were torn with gashes and bruises, but his head got the worst of it all. Some of his right ear was torn, his cranium bleeding profusely on the floor, even now. His hands were covered in it, and his knees were shaking._

 _He was holding the bat straight up, and he was smiling at her. Tears were falling from his face as he looked as if he was trying to laugh the pain away. One of his favorite jackets, now torn and ruined by his own assault. "H-Hey, do you think I'm a joke now?" He whimpered with wide eyes. One could tell from the look in his eyes alone, that he was ultimately broken. His irises were so wide, his pupils were so tiny, rattling in a mix of emotions that could only sum up one thing: fear. He sniffed, his body shuddering as he accidentally dropped the bat. "I uh, heard you and Nux...Talking..." He whispered. "I knew it," He smiled greatly as his tears only flowed even more. "You never loved me. You hurt me anyway, even though...I-I asked you not to.."_

 _Fiona fell to her knees._

 _"So here's...the deal.." He started to pant heavily, feeling dizzy as he began to lose his mind. "I'll just do this, anytime we argue. T-That way...You can feel better, after watching me get punished for hurting you..." He grinned, cocking his head to the side with an innocent and hopeful expression. "And then, you can't leave me. Because...If..I-If you do, I'll..." He didn't need to finish his sentence. He just wobbled to the bed, almost falling over from his heavy wounds. But after a minute or two, they began to fade. The blood was still there, but the gashes were closing. Scourge closed his eyes as he allowed his body to heal itself. He leaned one hand on the mattress, sighing in relief as his body finished regenerating. He stood up correctly, and turned to face Fiona. He still smiled. "I don't owe this world a damn thing baby, so I'm willing to let it blow up with or without me in it." His grin deepened at the sight of her tears. "I can just kill myself now, and let you idiots get dominated by those ungodly fucks in the sky. No one else in this world loves me, so that's why I need you. I promise I'll stop being so insufferable, kay?" He spread his arms out, wanting to embrace her. "Promise me,"_

 _She covered her face with her hands and leaned into the floor as she wailed._

 _"Promise me Fiona," His eyes never changed. "You will never leave me, unless you want me to die. You'll stay with me forever, until I stop loving you too." His cheeks became rosy, and his tone became lighthearted. "Now stop talkin' shit behind my back and just gimme a hug! I forgive you for everything, and I still love ya to pieces!"_

 _The young woman sobbed, and cried until her face started to hurt. She couldn't leave, she was trapped with him. She didn't want this, she never wanted this. She thought that things would be okay, that they could some how work it out. Scourge was crazy but, but this...But this...She couldn't do this anymore. He was killing her._

 _Her breath was caught in her throat when his arms suddenly wrapped around her._

 _He was squeezing too tight, his breath hitting her ear. He was chuckling, her cries instantly stopped and she became completely still. He patted her head, caressing her hair as he smothered the life out of her frame. She coughed, making struggling noises as she couldn't move her arms to push him away. He just continued to smile down at her with the face of an angel. "Hey, I wanna marry you, make you my queen. That way, you really won't be able to leave me." With every pat on her head, he gripped the ends of her hair as a small yank. His nails sunk into her fur, through her flesh. He could feel her bones aching to be released from his hold. He could hear her lungs gasping for air. "Aww, you need some air? Sorry but,"_

 _His smile disappeared, his face became so scary._

 _Too scary, too dark, too much._

 _She couldn't see straight anymore, her fear was eating her._

 _The fear of him._

 _"I want to suffocate you, until you can't breathe. I want you to feel how I felt when I heard you say all those things." He squeezed tighter, and she opened her mouth widely, without any noise except for a few choked gasps. "You feel like you're dying right? Like you can't do anything, like the world is falling down on you." He released her swiftly, watching her fall limp and collapse on the floor in front of him. Sitting on his knees, he reached down and seized the back of her hair. He pulled her up roughly with one hand, and adjusted her face with the other. He moved forward and kissed her softly, which stopped her from once again breathing normally._

 _"...!"_

 _He cackled darkly as he withdrew his lips from her mouth, blood falling off of his tongue._

 _He had bit her lips so hard, he punctured them with his teeth. Her blood was swiped off of her face with his tongue, laughing maliciously as he let her go and stood up to stand over her quivering body. She didn't make a sound, she just sat there in her own tears on the floor, holding herself._

 _...?_

 _That's when something flashed in Scourge's eyes._

 _What the fuck was he doing?!_

 _He shook his head back and forth, feeling a bitch of a headache stomp against his skull. He rubbed his forehead with a hiss, before looking down with great concern at his girlfriend. Oh God damn it, he did it again, but worse this time. If he didn't stop, he was going to kill her. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he control himself? Why couldn't he just-_

 _...There he was again._

 _That damned spirit, just staring at him._

 _Judging him for what he had done._

 _Scourge heard distant footsteps, no doubt O'Nux and Miles. He looked down at Fiona again, and grimaced._

She could never love him now.

* * *

 **END - ?**

 **"A joke."**

 **Did you honestly think any of this was funny? There's nothing to smile about here.**

 **Neither of them will never be happy.**

 **(Again, no serious correlation with the main story. HOWEVER, there are some hints in this one that will serve as some huge foreshadowing in the actual plot. O'Nux was in this one and Miles was mentioned, but they're currently not involved with Scourge as of right now. Miles was captured and used by him, while O'Nux is no where to be seen. Remember this. Anyway, this is just another flashback of Fiona's, and the effect of Scourge's manipulation. Scourge severely manipulated and controlled her to the point where she thought that she could never act or speak against him out of fear for her own safety, and his. She loves him, but not as much as she wanted to believe. The moment she thought about breaking up with him, _this_ was the result. She became trapped with the monster she thought she truly loved. He gave her the deadliest ultimatum. She was in love with that small naive innocence he clung to when he was blue, but now that's all gone. All that's left, is a pathetic maniac who can't even control himself. But the worst part is, Scourge ended up throwing her away anyway. Once he fell in love with Sonic, she was nothing to him. They went this entire time going through hell, for nothing.)**

 **EDIT: Don't worry! I will post the next _real_ chapter very soon!**

 **EDIT 2: If you're interested in what I'm working on for stories in the future, please view my profile.**


	42. Release

**Warning: Full on lemon.**

* * *

 **37 - Release**

* * *

"Z-Zha...Zha..."

He couldn't even say his name, his tears wouldn't stop pouring from his eyes. He covered his mouth as the black hedgehog sat up in his hospital bed. He hadn't moved his bones in so long. Zonic's legs were frail, he couldn't stand anymore. No, he refused to fall on his knees again. He couldn't tear his eyes away from him, he couldn't be weak in front of him now. Not now. Violently trembling with sniffles and sobs, Zonic steadily rose his ungloved hand towards him. "Zha...dow..." He dropped his hand and planted his face onto his lower body. He cried his eyes out, holding onto the hedgehog's legs that were covered underneath the sheets of the hospital bed. His head was nestled into his lap, his hands gripping both the blankets and his limbs to remind himself that he really was alive.

As his cries were muffled from the blankets, the first lieutenant general smiled and raised a formerly numb hand onto the blue hedgehog's head. He rubbed his fingers through his fur, feeling him, comforting him. "I don't think," He had to clear his throat, as he hadn't used his voice in a while. It was hoarse, but he didn't pass up this chance to speak to his one and only. "I don't think I've ever seen you this emotional before. I might never will again." His now warm hand continued to smooth his head. "But I hope you're only crying because you're happy," His smile deepened on his tan muzzle "I know I am." Zonic couldn't respond back, as his sobs were occupying his voice. "Let me see your face, Zonic."

The blue hedgehog shook his head, mumbling into the sheets. "Y-You can't...See me this way." He sniffled as he lifted his head, but didn't uncover his face. "A leader s-shouldn't be-" Another weep. "-Weak like this."

Zhadow disagreed. "Emotions only become weaknesses when you let them."

He watched Zonic rub his eyes with the back of his hands, letting out any lingering sobs building up in his throat. After he wiped his eyes and uncovered his face, he revealed himself to his superior. "..." He said nothing, only gazing into his red irises.

"Just like always, you look amazing."

With furrowed brows and red painting his muzzle, he darted his eyes away quickly. "You," He tried to speak, frowning as he tried to keep a straight face even after crying for nearly twenty minutes straight. "You've been out for practically a month. The doctors had no idea if or when you'd ever wake up. You've been on life support this entire time, feeding you through tubes down your throat."

Zhadow grunted in pain as he shifted movement. "Trust me, I can tell."

" _Don't!_ " Zonic's sudden outburst caused his superior to flinch. "S...Sorry. But, please don't move. Let me fetch a doctor to get the tubes out of you, they're probably very painful. You've been immobile for a while, no doubt your legs are numb. Your stomach's probably aching for real food, your memories might be a bit unstable-Oh Chaos..." He turned to the side while covering his mouth. "Your mental state could have been effected severely, I should probably get Zouge-"

"Zonic."

"Y-Yes?"

"I'm fine." Zhadow deadpanned. "I definitely feel like I'm forgetting some things, but all I need to remember is my job and most importantly, _you_."

With obvious concern laced in his voice, Zonic pressed on. "And your legs?"

"They're numb alright, but that's nothing physical therapy can't help."

Zonic got a little closer. "Your stomach?"

"I could use a decent meal, but not right now. Look," His superior gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm not going anywhere, alright? Go get a doctor."

The blue hedgehog refused, shaking his head stubbornly. "No," He said. "I don't want to leave you, I can't leave you now." His hand turned into a fist, with him anxiously gnawing one of his knuckles while staring down at the sheets. "What if, what if you pass out? What if you fall unconscious again? What if-" A peck onto the side of his muzzle caught him in mid-sentence to shut his mouth instantly. His face painted itself a deep crimson red as his heart fluttered against his chest. His stomach became bottomless, insects zipping and flying inside as his body became heated. "..!" He felt like a young teenager all over again. With embarrassment, Zonic quickly turned around with his back facing Zhadow as he bashfully covered his face. "..."

A low chuckle could be heard from the black hedgehog. "I would have kissed you in the mouth, but I'd rather brush my teeth first."

"..."

"Are you going to get a doctor now?"

Zonic slowly shook his head. Instead, he pressed his fingers against his collar to activate his hidden transmitter. "...10-66, room 304, one doctor and two nurses-"

Zhadow tried to stop him from getting any unnecessary staff, he was sure plenty of people were busy right now. "Zonic, one nurse is enough. I'll probably just need a wheelchair to get around for now until I can make my legs move again-"

"Scratch that, _three_ doctors and _five_ nurses-"

"Zonic, stop."

* * *

Shadow was roughly slammed against the wall, being uncomfortably held up by his chest fur. The grip was so strong, he was nearly choking him. His head had struck against the wall so hard, he was surprised he wasn't bleeding. He certainly felt a headache come along, though. But this was okay, he deserved this. Sonic was no longer completely present, Dark Sonic was standing by him. His physical power was ten times as much as his own, and he could feel that both the spirit and Sonic were working simultaneously. They weren't fighting for control, and that was both a good thing and a bad thing. Sonic did as Shadow requested and worked in harmony with his dark form, but there'd be no way of getting out of this situation without getting hurt.

The ultimate life form ignored the pain, giving the dark hedgehog as much sincerity and passion as he could muster in his gaze alone. Sure, this wasn't _completely_ Sonic, but he had the majority of control since he and Dark were working together. So as of now, he was still looking at his lover for the most part. "Sonic," Shadow somehow managed to speak in this difficult position. "It's okay," He reassured him softly. "Hit me. Hurt me as much as you want. I can-" He grunted in pain as the hold on his neck tightened. "I-I can take it." Even as he started to clench one eye shut from the pain, he tried smiling at him. "L...Let out all of your frustration on me from now on, so you won't ever-" He gagged, his eyes nearly rolling back from unconsciousness. "E-Ever...Have to go through...this...again..."

The entire time, Shadow never reached up to try and pull Dark Sonic's hands away. He never tried to kick him off or scratch at his wrists to pry his hands off. He didn't fight this, he let it happen. The ultimate life form who nearly destroyed Mobius twice, nearly killed Sonic and his friends, who nearly became a dark overlord over a demonic alien race, was allowing himself to be completely vulnerable to one person in particular. Only one person was allowed to see Shadow at his weakest, only one person was allowed to fight and bruise Shadow, only one person was allowed to destroy him in his most vulnerable state without a fight. And that person was Sonic, and Sonic alone. He was the only being in the entire universe who could ever see him this way, who could ever exploit him in such a violent way. Shadow cared too much for Sonic, he'd do anything for him. He'd die for him without question, he'd destroy anyone or anything for his sake with guns blazing.

And even as he strangled Shadow against the wall, he could feel every single shred of emotion going through him right now.

He felt _all_ of this.

Dark Sonic suddenly dropped Shadow onto the floor, turning his back towards him and hiding his face with one gloved hand. Shadow fell onto the floor, wheezing and gasping. He nearly passed out. As for Dark Sonic, he started pacing around in a circle. No, no this wasn't right. Why did Shadow feel like this? Why was he so willing to die for him, just that easily? He could feel it. Shadow was willing to die for him, kill for him, love for him, do anything for him. He loved him so much that he figured letting Sonic release his aggression onto him was a good thing. But...

 _"I just wanna see you smile because of me. Laugh because of me. Hate because of me. Kill because of me. Love for me! Do everything for me!"_

 _"...I'm insane, and I'm so fucked up that I think rape is the best way of showing someone how much you love them!"_

That's...

...Exactly what _he_ would say, isn't it?

" **No...** " Sonic murmured to himself, his voice shaky. " **N-No...** " He was turning into him. He was _turning_ into him. He couldn't do that. He refused to do that! That wasn't love, this wasn't love at all. This was abuse, this was torment, this was agony. Emotionally degrading and humiliating agony. Scourge wanted nothing more than to do the same to Sonic. Why would he ever think about doing something so awful to someone he loved? Just to get his own anger out? That was selfish, and that was shameful. No, he was ashamed of himself for even considering putting his hands on Shadow. This wasn't a fight of equals or rivals, this wasn't some petty argument, this was _abuse_. He was hurting someone at their lowest, and that was a coward's path. " **I can't do it.** " He whispered while wiping his thumb under his eye to pluck away a single lingering tear.

After regaining his breath, Shadow sat on the floor and laid against the wall. "Wh...What?"

" **I said I can't do it.** " He didn't want to look at him. " **I love you, I can't hurt you like this.** "

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "I don't understand-"

" **Of course you don't fucking understand!** " Sonic shouted, a shock wave instantly quaking the apartment. **"Letting me hurt you isn't love, love isn't supposed to hurt. Not like _this._** " He walked away from him, returning to the bed to sit down and cover his face with both hands. His negative aura was shrouding the entire room, turning everything into a pale color. The wooden floor began to rot, paint began chipping from the walls. Shadow remembered that a divine spirit at full power could change the very environment of their world easily. That dark aura here was slowly but surely destroying this room.

The ultimate life form realized that he only made matters worse, and he wasn't doing Sonic any favors at all. It seemed as if he still didn't truly understand how love worked. He thought Sonic hurting him would be a good thing, but perhaps not. "I'm sorry," He said as he rubbed his fingers around his throat. There were some bruises, but they'd heal eventually. He was the one who pushed Sonic into doing it anyway. "I only made things worse for you."

Dark Sonic shook his head with a growl. " **Stop apologizing. You're just pissing me off even more.** " One of his now hazy deep green eyes glared at him from in between his fingers. " **If it makes you feel any better, I still wanna punch the shit out of you.** " He then lowered his gaze before closing his eyelids. " **But I can't. I just...can't.** " He inhaled sharply and reached his hands up to his head, gripping his fur in frustration. Shadow cautiously walked over to sit beside him, and placed his hand onto his shoulder. " **I'm so pissed and sad, and I don't know what to do. I've accepted Dark, but I still can't get rid of these stupid emotions.** " He gripped the sides of his head even tighter, threatening to pull his fur out. " **Even with all of this power, I still can't do anything to let it out. If I do,** " His eyes became glossy as they opened again. " **I just end up hurting the people around me. And that's why I hate using Dark, because all I do is cause pain out of my selfish satisfaction. I become a monster. _This_ is why I'm afraid of myself!** " He lifted his head and turned to Shadow with small tears dripping from his face. " **Are you happy now?** "

Shadow took in his words carefully, gazing at his intense expression with sympathy and guilt. He took his hand off of his shoulder and slowly looked away to stare at the wall in front of them. "Even though you're the one who put bruises on my neck, I'm still the one who hurt you." Shadow made a small laugh. "Ironic." He said. "If this is how you get while using Dark's powers, I don't even want to imagine what it would be like if you were possessed by that demon Scourge stole from you." He scowled, his expression wrinkling from his furrowed brows and his frown. "I don't know what to do myself. I can never help you, I only keep making things harder for you. I thought after talking with Zonic, I finally understood what this love concept is. And yet I still seem to lack knowledge and basic common sense." He ran his hand over his muzzle and sighed. "Why did I think pain would make things better for you? I still have that barbaric way of thinking from my past, and it won't go away." He turned to Dark Sonic and quickly seized his wrists. The navy blue hedgehog flinched at the sudden hold, but didn't move away. Shadow's voice became desperate, pleading. "I just want to help you, I just want to make you happy. But all I do is make you miserable, why...?" He asked himself. He swiftly pulled him into a tight embrace, his black furred arms wrapped around him completely as he hid his face in the crook of his neck. "I hate seeing you upset." He whispered against him. "I hate seeing you like this, especially when I'm the cause of it. That's why I wanted you to hit me, because I'm angry at myself, too. I'm supposed to treat you like you're a rarity-No, you _are_ a rarity."

Sonic was frozen in shock at his words. He had never heard Shadow sound so emotional before. He didn't feel any tears drop on him, but it almost sounded like he was crying.

"You're everything to me, I swear it. I'm sorry," Shadow whispered. "I'm so sorry. Forgive me, please." He pleaded. "Please, Sonic."

" **Shadow...** " He embraced him back, his arms closing themselves around his torso. Even after Shadow poured his heart out to him, Sonic couldn't help but feel as if it was his own fault. They both wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for Scourge, but Scourge wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for their blood line. He cursed himself for this. Their world was destroyed, their friends got hurt, Zonic's world was destroyed, his people were killed, and after all of this he still got to live. He failed everyone he loved, and yet he was still allowed to breathe. That wasn't fair, that wasn't fair at all. Dark Sonic closed his eyes sadly, his fingers running through Shadow's onyx fur. He was still upset, and now Shadow was upset. He really didn't know what to...

No.

He knew what to do.

He took his arms from around him to break the embrace, and rose his hands towards Shadow's face. He caressed his muzzle, tilting his head and leaning closer to connect their lips. Without hesitation, Shadow kissed back immediately. While continuing the kiss, Shadow unclipped his rings and pulled off his gloves. The heavy metal rings fell to the floor along with his gloves, and the dark hero's pair joined them. For a brief moment, they broke the kiss and took off their shoes. After doing so, Dark Sonic shoved Shadow down onto the bed and moved to get on top of him and straddle him. They both shared a long gaze, their eyes filled with adoration.

Words didn't need to be said, they could feel what each other was thinking through their wave length.

They needed this, they needed to let go of everything. Sadly, this was the only way they could do it, but they had to. Sonic leaned down and continued the kiss, closing his eyes and allowing Shadow to touch him. He groped his arse like usual, a tingling sensation crawling up the dark hero's spine. He moaned lowly into the kiss, sticking his tongue into his mouth as they became more rough in their movements. Shadow swatted his hand against his bottom before squeezing his fingers into him. The navy colored hedgehog broke the kiss to release another moan, but dove back in for more. As their tongues rolled and pressed against each other, the Sonic began to grind his hips into the ultimate life form's. He could feel the biohog grow hard beneath him, and his own arousal was growing and unsheathing from the small amount of satisfying friction.

Dark Sonic broke the kiss once again, and began to move his body. While still on top of Shadow, he turned his figure around to face his crotch. His bottom was facing the ebony hedgehog, and Shadow licked his lips hungrily. He placed both bare hands onto his backside and opened his mouth. Meanwhile, Dark was rubbing his fingers against the growing erection in between Shadow's legs. The more he rubbed, the bigger it got, and the more Shadow groaned under his breath. Soon, it stood up tall and hardened considerably. He stuck out his tongue and slithered it against the base. As he did this, he flinched at the feeling of something wet pressing against his own unsheathed length. But not only that, the elder hedgehog was beginning to circle the tips of his fingers around his entrance. Dark Sonic opened his mouth more and took in some of his length into his throat. Both of his palms wrapped around it, rubbing up and down as he moved his lips around it.

Shadow mimicked the same actions, taking Sonic into his mouth. The male on top moved his hips, slowly rocking them into his wet cavern more. As he shook his butt against his face, sucked against Shadow's member. He took more inches of his length down his throat, saliva and precum dripping down his skin as he took him in even deeper. Another slap struck against his bottom, causing him to rumble a moan against his shaft. He felt Shadow slip the dark one's member from his mouth, pressing his bottom closer to his face as he licked against something else. Dark's stiffened, feeling his tongue rub against his hole. Trying to keep up with him, he pressed his lips against Shadow's pelvis, taking all of him in at once. It felt like the tip of his head touched the back of his throat. He gagged, but didn't stop. He moved his hands quicker, squeezing a bit tighter to create better friction on his erection. He could feel Shadow's sexual growls become louder underneath him.

The ultimate life form pushed his tongue against his entrance, pressing it inside of him. As saliva coated him, Shadow gently pushed his finger inside. Dark Sonic pulled the elder's length from out of his mouth, releasing a loud moan as he pressed both his tongue and his finger inside of him. " **A-Ah,** " He panted, his body overheating with lust as he began to sweat. The cheeks of his arse were smacked once again, and he couldn't help but squeeze his fingers against the bed sheets. " **Ahh...** " He sucked in a breath, biting his lip as he inserted a second finger that was covered in saliva. " **Mmmn,** " He tried not to mewl like a girl. They didn't have lube on them at the moment, this was kind of out of the blue. He was glad Shadow was prepping him, but Sonic didn't even care. He wanted him to screw him against the mattress. He spread his legs and sat up a bit, his bottom still directly in his face. Sonic rubbed one hand against Shadow's shaft while lowering the other arm towards his own throbbing member.

He touched both himself and Shadow as the other added another finger after a few minutes. That was three, now. He was stretching him, his muscles retracting from his digits. This was enough to make him cum, but he didn't want to do that just yet. He made a whiny moan, wanting something other than his tongue and fingers inside of him. He let go of the striped hedgehog's member and his own, moving his legs to get himself from off of his face. He turned his body back around, facing him directly with his bottom now hovering over his length. He steadily lowered himself onto his member, feeling him penetrate his entrance and push into his body. He made a lengthy moan while Shadow hissed and clenched his eyes shut. "Shit...!" Sonic felt incredibly tight after all of that preparation, and he wasn't sure why. In fact, he thought he'd be hurting him but he wasn't.

Sonic smirked as he pushed himself lower gradually. " **Sorry. It's the spirit's power,** " He groaned while rolling his eyes back from the feeling of his girth. " **Nmm...You're technically having sex with a God, you know?** " Normally, Sonic would be in some pain even after being fingered, but being in this form helped cut through a lot of that. He only felt slight pain, mostly pleasure. He began rocking his hips onto his pelvis almost immediately, watching Shadow's disgruntled expressions at his extreme tightness. " **It, might be a bit much for you- _Ah..._** " His back arched a little, his legs widening apart more as his muscles began to relax. " **Fuck, yes.** " He swore blissfully. He felt Shadow abruptly thrust against him, making Dark yelp. " **A-Ah!** " He could feel Shadow thrust again this time, not waiting for him to recover. Shadow wasn't going to let that power stop him from ravishing his body. This was just another challenge he had no problem overcoming. He was being rough, and Sonic loved it. " **Yes...** " He moaned as he thrusted again. His pace quickened shortly afterwards, his waist being gripped as Shadow sat up for more leverage. " **Don't hold back,** " Sonic panted. " **Give me everything you've got, let me take it-Nmm! Ahh...** " He worked simultaneously with the ebony hedgehog, his ass rocking onto his member roughly.

Shadow clenched his teeth, his fingers stabbing into his hips as he moved harder into him. The legs of the bed thumped against the floor forcefully, Dark Sonic's head dipped backwards as he felt his erection strike with harsher thrusts inside of him. "I don't care _what_ you are," Shadow growled. "You will never be too strong for me." He leaned closer against Sonic's torso, pressing kisses on his abdomen while thrusting firmly. "I understand now, this form of yours," He grazed his sharp teeth and his lips onto his abdomen, threatening to place a hickey. "When you're like this, you like it rough. Really rough." He felt Sonic place his hands on his shoulders to hold on, moaning loudly as he slammed his lap into his arse. "How provocative of you, faker."

" **T-This form makes me act that** **way-Ahh!** " He gasped loudly. " **Damn...** " He touched himself as he rode Shadow, still holding onto him with one hand on his shoulder blade. He leaned close and shared a brief hot kiss with the ultimate life form, their tongues wrestling and shoving. Once it ended, Dark Sonic begged him to take him in another position. " **Put me on the wall, put me on the wall...** " He repeated in a moan. Shadow slowed his thrusts, and dropped his hold from his hips. He pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around his waist to lift him up while standing from the bed. Still inside of him, he carried him to the wall beside the bed. Suddenly, navy aura surrounded Sonic's body and his quills began flowing in the air. He was levitating himself so Shadow didn't have to hold him up against the wall. Dark Sonic spread his legs apart and taunted Shadow by wagging his finger at him.

The elder could only chuckle to himself, he was still so cocky. Without hesitation Shadow thrusted strongly, with the dark hero inhaling and moaning sharply. Shadow placed a hand on the wall next to his head, leaning against it for leverage as he continued to pump in and out of him ruthlessly. "Take it," He grunted. "Take all of it." He dived down into his neck, placing small bites and nips onto his skin. Dark closed his legs against Shadow, pushing him closer by shoving his feet in his back. Sonic just wanted more and more, he was so greedy. The biohog would gladly accommodate, though. He pressed bruising kisses onto him before sucking his lips into his throat. He made some red marks, an obvious hicky appearing. He realized he wasn't regenerating it since it technically counted as a wound, but he figured the younger one wanted it to show on his body for now.

Dark Sonic nearly screamed from how hard he drove into him against this wall. It was going to crack at this point, they could destroy Zonic's apartment very easily. With Shadow's inhibitor rings gone and a literal deity losing control of his emotions thanks to lust alone, that was a definite possibility. " **Ohh _fuck-!_** " He cried, yanking his fingers into the back of Shadow's head as he continued to rub himself. He was going deeper, he was brushing against his prostate. He was so close, he was going to cum. The striped one moved downwards to his chest, sticking out his tongue and smothering it against his peaking nipples. " **S-Shadow,** " He moaned his name desperately. " **I t-trust-** " He mewled, his legs twitching as he nearly came from the next series of thrusts. " **I trust you, and you do make me hap-Ah! Shiiit...** " He turned away as his face colored in red. " **You do make me happy, but-Mmngh,** " He panted as Shadow came closer and closer to his sweet spot. " **Aah...But you need to trust me, too-Aahh..!** "

He needed to trust him too?

...

Shadow understood.

He was so afraid of Sonic hating him for giving him so much grief, he thought pain would be his only way through redemption. But he needed to understand that Sonic would never stoop that low with him, even if he was angry with him. He needed to trust that Sonic wouldn't seek out vengeance for his anger against someone he loved, because he just wasn't that kind of person. He truly couldn't hate anyone for the life of him. He was too good for that, and Shadow needed to respect him for that.

The ultimate life form got higher on his body, returning to his neck. He stuck out his tongue once more, dragging it along his collar bone. His hips slammed against him even harder, and Dark Sonic's power was reacting to his roughness each time. Cracks grew and developed onto the wall, piece of the material falling on the floor beneath them. " **So close, right there...I'm so close...** " Dark Sonic moaned pleadingly. " **Ahh...Ah...Mmhm, right there, right there...!** " Shadow smushed his tongue onto the middle of his throat, and sucked against his weak point mercilessly. " **Oh God-! _Yes!_** " His tossed his head back against the wall, his body thrusting into the elder as his spine curled with his legs raising upwards. Shadow sank his teeth into the side of his neck, shoving his fingers into the wall so hard, he made indentations. The younger's insides were squeezing his member in retaliation. Shadow released himself inside of Sonic completely, while the dark hero's essence shot up and splashed against their abdomens.

A strange noise invaded the ultimate life form's ear drums, and the walls and floors underneath them quaked. The windows shattered, glass being tossed everywhere.

A blinding light took over his vision for a short second, before slowly fading away.

* * *

 _Ahahaha..._

 _Yes, you'll be perfect for my host, Project Shadow._

 _Perfect for the legacy of our race._

* * *

That voice again...

Slowly, Shadow opened his eyes to see Sonic in his normal state. His fur returned to it's cobalt blue, and the negative aura surrounding them was gone. He was shivering against both the wall and him fiercely, his eyes clenched tightly while panting heavily. Was he-Was he _crying?_ He was holding onto Shadow securely, his arms locked around his body and his head resting onto his shoulder. His neck had two badly bruised marks, with one of them bleeding. He had pierced his skin with his teeth on that one, biting him like a savage feral animal. Wow, why did he do that? And why did Sonic _like_ it? He hoped he wasn't crying because of the bite. Shadow was panting too, but used the last of his strength to take the hero into his arms and carry him back to the bed. He gently laid him down, before climbing into bed with him to hold him close. He pulled the covers over them, and pressed Sonic close to his body. He leaned over to lick the wound on his neck, trying to help it close.

Sonic sniffed and nuzzled his face against his chest fur as he did this. Shadow lifted his tongue away from his neck, watching the wound slowly close. He rested his head against Sonic's onto the pillow and rubbed his back. "I hope you're not crying because of the bite. I don't know what got over me."

The hero shook his head slowly. "'Wasn't you, I'm just...glad I got that all out..."

"I see," The semi-immortal hedgehog replied softly. "I heard that voice."

"Again?" Sonic rose a brow while wiping his eyes. "What did it say? I hadn't heard it since our super forms disappeared."

"Something, strange, I still couldn't really understand it." He exhaled and closed his eyes. "Enough about me, what was that all about?"

"What?"

Shadow opened an eye at him. "There was a weird noise, the windows shattered and the building was falling apart." He sat up for a second to look over at the mess, only to see that the windows were fixed, the wall was clean of any marks, and the floors were no longer rotted. It was as if nothing ever happened. "Now everything looks fine."

Sonic slowly opened his mouth, but without words. As if he wasn't sure how to explain himself. "Oh, that. Um," He made a sheepish smile. "I kinda got out of hand with my powers and my emotions, and then the sex was really good so...I dunno why everything got fixed when I reverted though. Hmm," He narrowed his eyes curiously. "'No idea."

The ultimate life form stared at him with some concern as he laid back down. "And do you feel okay now?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. It felt so good," He smiled a little. "I was crying 'cause of that, too."

Shadow opened both of his eyes and blinked. "Oh." He smirked. " _That_ good, huh?"

"Mmhm." The blue one blushed as he rubbed his fingers through his white fur. "I got's a question," He trailed off while drawing circles onto his chest. "How come you started bragging to Scourge about how good I was in bed?" He asked innocently while gazing at him with his now beautiful bright lime irises.

Needless to say, Shadow was totally caught off guard by that question. "I-Err," He _did_ kind of throw his personal business out there just to taunt him. Okay, looking back on it now, maaaybe he shouldn't have said all of that. "I just, wanted to piss him off." He darted his eyes around as Sonic started to slowly grin. "He kept telling me what he'd do to you once he got his hands on you throughout the entire war and it, well it ticked me off. So I gave him a taste of his own medicine."

"Shads, you talkin' shit almost got us killed."

"Look," He looked Sonic in the eye. "You're mine, and I have no problem boasting about us to anyone if they try to take you away from me." He scowled. "Bastard's lucky we unfused, I would have decimated him-"

"Wooow, you're gonna be one of _those_ types now?"

Shadow was taken aback. "The hell does that mean?"

"One of those douchebag tough guys who always sticks up for his girl whenever someone makes the slightest indication that they're interested in her."

The ultimate life form squinted his eyes sharply. "So I'm a douchebag now because of your psychopathic stalker? And you're a woman?"

Sonic stifled a chuckle. "It was an example, silly. I'm just sayin', you're super possessive. I mean, you nearly murdered that one guy in the clothes store when I was in the changing rooms during the festival-"

"That son of a bitch deserved to be punted into the sun for taking pictures of you!" He exclaimed aggressively, making Sonic snicker even more. "I have every damn right to be possessive, I'm the only one who should have you." He retorted defensively. "Not Scourge, and not anyone else in any other reality, or planet or whatever else. _Only me._ "

The blue kissed his nose playfully, but Shadow didn't find this very funny. "See? There you go again."

"What the hell are you on about?"

"Nothing~ Nothing at all..."

"Faker, I swear to God-"

A peach finger rested against his tan lips. "Shh." He said with a lazy, sleepy smile. "Let's just go to sleep, okay?" He closed his heavy eyelids and nuzzled himself against Shadow's chest fur once again. " 'm tired." He mumbled before quickly falling into slumber. His soft snores caused warmth to grow in Shadow's chest. He was glad he made him smile and laugh by the end of such a tragic day. As said before, they both needed this. He made a small smile at this, closing his eyes just as well and pressing a small kiss onto his forehead. After a while, he too felt himself fall unconscious into a deep relaxing sleep.

It wasn't so much that he was possessive, he was greedy and stingy. He wanted Sonic, he loved him and he didn't want anyone else to have him. After all, he was the only one who truly needed him, right?

The two hedgehogs slept together in bed, smiling in their sleep.

* * *

Scourge lifted the cell phone from his face, and let it disintegrate into bright red embers of chaos.

They had sex again, great. Scourge was once again able to see what they were doing with his abilities thanks to Fleetway. He squeezed out the little bit of energy he had left to spy on them, and now he was as dried out as a an old raisin. He felt like tearing his eye balls out of his sockets. Still, he couldn't be that angry about it at this point. Blue already lost his virginity a while ago, and he was a young adult. People around their twenties fucked like rabbits, he wasn't surprised that he'd pull Stripes in for more. He didn't give a shit about all that emotional crap, he was still scathed by the fact that Shadow fucked him again. Sure he understood what Blue and Stripes' problems were with each other, and it was cute that they settled it out, but Scourge couldn't help but be colored green with envy. Literally. Stripes not only got to fuck Sonic, he fucked a deity too. Well, technically. It was so fucking unfair. That should have been him doing that, with Sonic screaming _his_ name by the end of it.

He was so tired, so weak and sleepy. But here he was, sitting in a shitty bed with a single light bulb above him. Apparently this room was built especially for him. A special cell that Zonic had Zobotnik engineered for little 'ol him. He felt special. Apparently it was a room built several miles below No Zone prison, near the core of their planet. It was very hot on the outside, but pretty balanced and neutral inside. There was a special elevator that was built to endure the extreme heat and pressure of the planet's earth. Next was a metal door, and a small room inside. There room was divided in half. An interrogation room on one side, and a cell on the other. Scourge was currently locked up in the cell part of the room, sitting on a cot bed. The door was locked with a special code, and it seemed impenetrable. The walls and floors were metallic, but other than that, this cell didn't look too special. Nothing he couldn't bust out of.

Well, that what it _seemed_ like. In reality, the walls, door and floors were not simple metal. They were made of the same type of material used in those control gauntlets, so it was actually draining his energy every second he attempted to take a breath in this room. It was making him very tired and very weak. Made sense as to why they didn't even bother keeping cuffs on him, this room was doing the job of restraining him for them. His mattress was lumpy without sheets, and the pillow was flat. Couldn't bitch about it too much though, he was a prisoner, not a guest. They threw him down here hours ago, it was probably midnight now. They'd probably question him tomorrow about his plans, and he had no problem telling them, _if_ the morons could understand.

Pfft, they totally wouldn't.

No one ever did _until they died._

Scourge yawned and leaned back in his cot. His arms crossed behind his head and his legs comfortably sprawled out. That's when he winced painfully. His stomach was killing him. Not of hunger, no, but of cramps and severe swelling. His hands instantly clutched the bottom of his tattered shirt, holding his abdomen painfully as he sat up. He groaned in agony, gnashing his teeth together. He told them, he warned them not to hurt him there. It felt like he was fucking pregnant, why did they have to hit him there? God, he was going to puke at this rate. If this kept up, his eating disorder would return with a vengeance.

The door to his prison suddenly slammed open, with some No Zone soldiers marching in and shutting and locking it back. Most of them he didn't care for, but he did recognize two faces. A green crocodile, and a purple chameleon. They walked by the interrogation portion of the room, and stepped in front of his iron barred cell. Scourge narrowed his eyes and took his hands away from his stomach. However, he remained hunched over. He raised a brow with a frown. "You're not step daddy," He acknowledged. "Where he at? He's the only pig I plan on talkin' to. Either him or Blue, doesn't matter."

Zector crossed his arms over his chest while Zespio leaned closer to the bars. The crocodile glared a Scourge with great animosity, just like everyone else in the room. "The boss is busy right now, he's none of your concern."

Zespio's glare was just as hateful, but with a calmer demeanor. "You're official interrogation doesn't begin until tomorrow, but we wanted to pay a visit on his behalf, and Sonic prime's."

"We've got our own questions that were allowed to ask, so you're gonna answer them."

"It's only two, shouldn't take too long."

Zector held up a a strange looking energy bar in his hand. "And if you behave, we'll toss you a meal and leave you be."

"Fair enough?" Zepsio asked without much concern.

Scourge tilted his head with unimpressed pursed lips. He clicked his tongue and blew out some air. "I'm already bored and it's only been like, sixty-three seconds of you morons talking." He flagged them off and laid on his back. "Fuck off, I'll wait 'till Zonic or Sonic shows up. You guys are livestock compared to them, and you're mere side characters. You're boring and irrelevant-"

Zector slammed his fists against the bars, his yellow eyes becoming more undomesticated as his pupils shrunk into slits. His ferocious reptilian teeth were bared, sharpened and glinting with the desire to shred flesh. He was a crocodile after all, it was in his nature. "...Zespio?" He asked with an eerily quiet tone, a tone very unlike the once bubbly colonel.

"Yes?"

"It'd be okay if I ate him, right?"

Zespio made a look of interest, his face darkening as he considered the idea of executing Scourge on the spot in the most brutal way possible. Just like all those years ago. He could picture it now: Zector's teeth gnawing on his bones, hearing Scourge's screams to get him away. His torn off bloody tissue splattering against the walls. "As much as I love the idea of that," He turned to his partner with a much calmer expression and patted his forearm. "That's not our purpose for being here right now. We'll get to see him writhe in misery after his trial. So," He turned back to Scourge. "Calm down, let's just get this over with."

The wild instinct in his eyes faded as he realized what he was just considering to do. That, that wasn't like him at all. Zector shook his head quickly and placed hand over his head. "Huh, I don't know what got over me."

Suddenly, Scourge chuckled to himself. "I see, so Fleetway's power can have a long-lasting effect with enough exposure. I'm basically a rotting fruit, the very scent of his energy flowing from my body like a decomposing corpse. You've all been around me too long, and now you're starting to become twisted monsters of your former selves." He giggled louder, earning a growl from Zector. "Holy shit, no wonder Zonic lost his fuckin' marbles with me. Everything I've done to him," He grinned heartlessly. "His boyfriend, step daddy Zhadow's soldiers killing themselves, his world, the war, Sonic...! Being around him and doing all of those things destroyed him beyond repair!" He cackled with glee, slapping his knee. "Aahh~! Even if I die, he'll still be plagued with insanity! And so will all of _you!_ Hahahaha!"

"Enough!" Zepsio yelled. "Silence yourself. We've questions to ask."

The happiness on his face vanished instantly. Scourge rolled his eyes, pouted and sat up while leaning his back against the wall of his cell. "Jesus...Alright, fine. Just make it quick."

Zector took this chance to ask a question first. "After evaluating your repulsive behavior back out in the battle field, we realized you were somehow infatuated with Sonic prime." He narrowed his eyes. "Why is that?"

"Oooh," Scourge smirked. "An actual good question, I'm surprised." He crossed his legs and leaned his hands back on the bare mattress. "Lemme explain with an ambiguous cryptic dialogue that you more than likely will never understand. You might wanna take out a pen and paper for this one." He cleared his throat. "Let's say, I'm a religious man who was taught to believe that all Chaos Born are super bad and nasty. Let's say I met a Chaos Born who was actually the exact opposite of what I was told." His eyes became dream-like, his cheeks lightly rosy as he swooned. "Let's say he was a beautiful angel, who was unaware of his ancestors' dark history. Let's say as a religious man, I was forced to kill him in the name of my faith, but I can't. Because he's so beautiful, so pure, so naive to what he'll eventually become. It was my job to stop him before it was too late, but I failed by falling in love with him. Falling in love with him because of his innocence, and his own selfless desire to heal me of my own demons." His hand clutched at his chest, squeezing against his heart as it began beating quickly. He released a shaky sigh, his legs tightening together with growing heat in between them. "And that, is why I'm hopelessly in love with that _big Blue heretic._ "

Zector and Zespio faced each other with puzzled looks. Heresy? An angel? A religious man? What the hell was this guy on about? Their transmitters automatically recorded this entire conversation, they'd have to ask about it and report this to Zonic later.

"Oh yeah," The green hedgehog snapped out of his daydreaming briefly. "What was that other question you had?"

Zepsio blinked slowly. "Err," He scratched the side of his face. "Why try everything in your power to try and kill the commander this time? Wasn't Sonic prime the one you want to kill before?"

Scourge snickered at their ignorance. "I don't _want_ to kill anybody. I _need_ to kill them both, dumb ass. But Zonic needs to die first before anything. The reason?" He slouched on the cot once again, his back laying on the flattened cushion. "You _definitely_ wouldn't understand, so I'm not gonna waste my breath in answering."

The two high ranking soldiers looked at each other with uncertainty. Those answers only raised even more questions.

Hopefully Zonic got all of that through the transmitters.

* * *

 **END - 37**

 ***Reads every single review.***

 **Ya'll so nice to me, I love you. It's so cool to see so many people showing their support for the story, but it was even cooler to see all of the people who said they got emotional after seeing Zhadow come back to life. Ya'll so caring and sweet!**

 **( - ^_^ - )**

 **A loyal reviewer named Pamitydesu01** **said in an older chapter that Scourge is indeed a bad person, but he was once a person too who went through a lot in his life that shaped him this way.**

 **Scourge is a monster yes, but the reason why he's still a monster is somewhat his own fault.**

 **If you have psychological problems, then get help. If you know for sure you still need it, don't stop halfway through. You'll just reverse all that effort. Ninety percent of the world is fucking shitty and horrible, but not everyone in the world is a shit stain. Though a very small percentage of this exists, there are some good people out there who actually give a shit about you. It may be hard to find, but it isn't impossible. That alone, should drive you to fix yourself so you can't hurt yourself or anyone else ever again. A lot easier said than done, so I understand why a lot of people give up. I mean, I give up all the time myself which is why I still have depression. But others are different, and anybody can be stronger than me.**

 **This is something Scourge and a lot of other people in real life already know, they just refuse to try anymore.**


	43. Psychology

**Warning: Small Lemon**

* * *

 **38 - Psychology**

* * *

 _Ah, where was this?_

 _There was nothing but white here. Was this a blank space? He could feel something though, it felt like chaos energy. Immensely powerful amounts of it, too. Was nothing else here?_

 _Huh? No, he felt something soft beneath him. Shadow looked down, he saw white fabric this time. A mattress? There were thick sheets and blankets, but they were all messed up. As if someone was tossing and turning in it. Also, this thing was huge. Perhaps it was a king sized bed? No, it looked even bigger than that. He looked up and saw that above the bed were curtains. This was a canopy, a big one. A bed only fit for royalty, but why here? And where was here exactly?_

 _Suddenly, he heard moaning._

 _Shadow turned to his left to see four silhouettes in front of him, laying in bed. Why was it suddenly so dark in here? They were all shaped like hedgehogs. Were they all, Sonic? No, they weren't Sonic, but they were his forms. Two of them he could make out but the other two, for some reason they were too blurred to see. Rather, too **corrupted** to see. He kept seeing strange symbols over the silhouettes, in a language Shadow couldn't understand. They were all moaning, their limbs moving and stretching._

 _He could see glowing red eyes from the first silhouette, which alarmed him, until he realized they weren't swirling. That wasn't the demon, that was something entirely different. As if light illuminated on the person, Shadow could clearly see who it was. It was the gold one, the Super form Sonic used. His cherry red irises, his blinding golden fur and aura. He was blushing, and he didn't have any of his clothes on. He looked embarrassed, but his legs spread for him regardless. Wait, he was submitting himself to Shadow. Why? "_ So you're...The Chaos ***********... _" What? He couldn't understand that word. "_ I understand now, why he chose you... _" He was rubbing his ungloved hand down to his crotch, he was touching himself. "_ Ah, _" He made a small moan. "_ Mmn, do what you want with me... _"_

 _Something strongly compelled Shadow to yank him down and have his way with him, however, another side of him told him not to. In fact, he for some reason felt fear. Why fear? Shadow slowly looked at the second silhouette engulfed in navy aura, and he could now clearly see this one as well. This one he recognized very well. It was Dark Sonic, just as nude as Super but a lot less submissive. He was laying against a pillow, staring directly at Shadow with his soulless white eyes. He was touching himself too, sucking one of his fingers into his mouth as his tail wagged. That's exactly what Sonic did when they first did it. "_ **I let you off easy, Project...** _" Sonic would never call him that. "_ **I should have dominated you in that bed, you're lucky my host is so merciful. Mmm,** _" He licked his lips. "_ **Come here, I want to play with you again. We can be rough all you like.** _"_

 _No, this wasn't right._

 _None of this was right._

 _The two forms crawled over to him together, reaching for his legs and thighs. They both pushed him down on the bed, gazing at him from on top of his body. They kissed each other with heated gazes still directed at Shadow. Chaos, he was so hard right now. After they broke their kiss, they began to touch Shadow's figure. "_ Ple **ase,** _" They said. "_ ****** ******** **us**. Giv **e** **us,** _" They both rubbed his member from below. "_...A ne **w heir.** _"_

 _Super made a hungry smile. "_ I'm so tight for you. _"_

 _Dark tightened his hold on Shadow's shaft. "_ **We're all ready for you, Project.** _"_

All _of them at once? No._

 _"_ What's w **rong?** _" They both asked. "_ Isn't this wh **at you want?** Isn't this y **our fantasy?** _"_

 _No..._

 _"_ Don't you want us? _"_

 _...No._

 _"_ **Don't you want Sonic?** _"_

 _Yes, but he didn't want them along with him._

 _There was something awfully wrong with them._

* * *

Shadow quickly opened his eyes while panting heavily.

A dream-No, a nightmare.

It felt like it should have been a good dream, but it was a crazy nightmare. But why was it a nightmare? Why did he feel like he shouldn't have saw any of that just now? And what were the other two silhouettes he saw in the...Huh. He blinked.

He couldn't remember any of it now.

What just happened? And why the hell was he hard in the middle of the night? He was too mature to be having wet dreams, he was almost in his sixties. Did this count as morning wood? At least, he assumed that's what he had.

He sighed as he shifted his position with his legs. He was going to turn over, until he felt something nuzzle against his chest. He looked down and saw Sonic peacefully asleep on his body. His face was deep within his chest fur. Shadow's lips curled up a little, all of his worries suddenly washing away. Didn't matter what the dream or nightmare was about, he had something to comfort him already. And it was right here, in his arms.

He laid his head on top of Sonic's and closed his eyes once more that night.

* * *

 _ **Next Day, Day Of Interrogation**_

The two hedgehogs woke up a few hours after dawn, about nine in the morning. They both realized when they woke up, that they felt something warm resonate inside of their bodies. It felt familiar, it felt like they were returned something that was lost. After looking into each other's eyes for a few minutes while reading their wavelengths, they realized that their super forms must have returned back to them. They sighed in relief as one of their trump cards were back on the table. Chaos forbid if Scourge wanted to pull something stupid again, Sonic and Shadow could really go all out. They felt safe, and heavily reassured. Shadow could feel Maria's presence, and Sonic could feel one of his many divine deities flow within his body with great energy. That made waking up this morning a lot better.

Sonic whipped up some pancakes and eggs in the small kitchen, while also serving Shadow some black coffee. After they shared breakfast together, they kissed profusely. Afterwards, they both showered together and freshened up before getting dressed in their shoes and gloves. They went on their way to No Zone HQ, but Sonic quickly swiped the tablet Zepsio gave them yesterday to check on their friends on the way there. Tails picked up, but said they couldn't continue the call for long because he had a plan on moving the group to Angel Island. They were on the move, Tails couldn't be distracted. Sonic commended the little fox for coming up with a plan, but warned him to be very careful and to once again keep his eyes peeled. Sonic hoped Tails knew what he meant by that, but he had faith in the kitsune. Both he and Shadow wished everyone good luck, and they sadly had to end their short transmission. Sonic chaos controlled the device away and told Shadow that they might as well just chaos control inside of the HQ instead of walking.

They teleported right in, startling some folks, but they greeted them nicely once they realized who it was. Sonic and Shadow greeted back, and traveled to Zonic's office. They noticed on their way there that the soldiers definitely looked saddened because of the great lost they've suffered, but they could tell something else was there. Dare they say it, they sensed, happiness and relief. No Zone HQ was in a very poor state as of now, with a high shortage of soldiers and several damages wrecking their building and their city. There were cops coming in and out of the building to go into town to make some repairs on the city buildings. Citizens wouldn't be returning back to their homes in a very long time, and that wasn't good. This put a poor name on their military and their honor, losing family members and great men and women of their world. Finances were being drained constantly thanks to the repairs as well, making it harder for them to secure a decent budget for equipment or weaponry. They were in a very bad place right now, and yet...

Some people were still smiling.

The two hedgehogs felt a notable sense of euphoria spreading from person to person, and the couple couldn't figure out why for the life of them. Granted, ninety percent of the soldiers in the building looked absolutely fine, as if they never fought in the war. They could only assume it was only thanks to Zonic's efforts with his new abilities and his leadership of the medical ward. Maybe that was a reason? Things felt very bittersweet, but they didn't understand the sweet part of it. What was anyone smiling for at all?

By the time Sonic and Shadow arrived on the floor and walked to his office, they were puzzled. Sonic was going to knock, until his ear twitched at the sound loud thumping. Shadow heard this as well, his eyes narrowing as he came closer to press his ear against the door. Yes, there was a lot of thumping and knocking. Almost as if someone was throwing things onto the floor. He turned to Sonic with concern and suspicion, giving him the indication that something might be wrong. Perhaps it'd be better to get the element of surprise. Sonic nodded once and placed his hand on the doorknob. Steadily, he turned and cracked it open, his fists clenching in preparation for an attack-

"Mmmfgh...Mmffh...Mmmn!" Muffled mewls of pleasure met their sensitive ears as they peaked through. A black furred hand was firmly placed over a peach muzzle, as the commander of the No Zone military was thrusted into on top of his own desk. His uniform pants were around one of his ankles, his top fully opened with his peach chest revealed. He was on his back, with a black and red striped hedgehog underneath him. He was holding one of Zonic's arms back, while covering his mouth from behind to stop him from making loud noises. Zonic's back was arching, his blue legs spread out completely with his free hand gripping the surface of the desk. The Shadow look-alike behind him was grunting with each thrust, his teeth grazing against his blue ear as he gave off a hungry glare. The dopple ganger's No Zone uniform was just as shrugged off as Zonic's.

Zonic's face was beet red, his eyes rolled back as every noise he made was of nothing but unadulterated ecstasy. The binders and files that were on top of Zonic's desk were toppled over onto the floor. Pens and pencils scattered, papers and documents carelessly tossed here and there. The commander's chair was flipped over in the corner of the room. Two pairs of military boots were laying around, forgotten. With every thrust, the desk shook and made a large thud. After a few minutes of this, the black hedgehog took himself out of the commander and pulled his hand from his mouth. He then pushed Zonic forward onto his hands and knees on the surface. He got on his knees as well right behind him, just to penetrate himself right back inside. Zonic gasped sharply, until that hand once again shot to his lips and covered his mouth.

The commander gripped his wrist as it covered his face, muffling more moans and groans. His blue tail wagged furiously in response to the waves of sexual high, his bare peach fingers stabbing into the hard wood. He soon laid his face against the desk, his hand still holding the black hedgehog's hand to his mouth. From behind him, the Shadow look-alike reached to the back of Zonic's head and pulled at one of his more dull quills. His pace became a lot faster, the moans coming from Zonic's mouth were turning into loud cries. He was panting quickly, his body sweating as he could feel his climax rising to dangerous levels.

...Sonic shut the door back softly.

Oh.

Oh...

... _Oohh_...

Okay...

The two hedgehogs slowly turned to each other with mortified expressions, before looking back straight at a nearby wall. Though Shadow looked more confused, while Sonic looked more disgusted. They both literally just witnessed both of their dopple gangers have public sex, right in front of them. Their mouths were agape, the hero's face twisted and wrinkled into revulsion. Shadow had his eyes squinted with his brows furrowed. Sonic took his hand off of the doorknob, feeling a strong sudden urge to wash and disinfect his hands. With a low and rather disturbed tone, Sonic asked an honest question. "...What the _fuck_ did we just witness?"

Shadow blinked at his use of language. "Well," He said slowly. "Apparently my counterpart to this world is no longer in a coma, and the commander is happily taking advantage of that."

Oh wait, holy shit. Shadow was right, that had to have been the Zhadow guy Zonic was dating. Sonic blinked several times, he was _alive!_ "Holy crap," He quickly turned back to Shadow and grasped his shoulders. "He's alive. That Zhadow guy is alive, Shadow!"

"..." The fact that Sonic didn't notice that first amongst anything, was slowly killing off one of Shadow's many advanced brain cells. "...Yes, that's exactly what I just said, Sonic."

Sonic could easily sense his sarcasm and pursed his lips. "I know you did, but it's still crazy." He started to smile. "I mean, this whole time my buddy's been going out of his mind because of this guy. Now he's back, and," They both winced at the sound of a long, drawn out moan coming from the other side of the door.

" _Yeees...Aaahh~!_ "

They assumed that Zhadow guy didn't have the chance of covering Zonic's mouth that time. "And," Sonic tried to continue. "He's obviously really relieved."

"I can't blame him," The ultimate life form admitted. "If you were trapped within a coma for approximately a month, I'd probably lose my patience with abstinence as well." The very thought of all that pent up sexual aggression made the biohog smirk. "I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to pin you against the hospital bed and-"

"Shads."

"Yes?"

"Your sex drive is showing."

"Whatever."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Anyway," They both flinched several times at a series of louder thumps.

A loud moan that sounded more like a scream accompanied every single thud. " _Aahh...Haa..Aah...! Ah! Ahh! Oh Chaos-!_ "

They were surprised the soldiers downstairs didn't hear this. "Uhh," Damn this is awkward. "I'm confused though, why is that guy even awake? The doctors said he'd probably never wake up."

"True-" This time, an animalistic growl cut them off with yet another loud thump.

" _Stay still, rookie._ "

Of course, also accompanied with a scream. " _AH! Ahh...!_ "

Sweet Chaos, what was he doing to him in there? "True, but traumatic comas can be extremely unpredictable." Shadow responded. "The commander's lover suffered severe damage to his cranium that should have killed him instantly. One would say he got out lucky from surviving said blow, but it put him in a state of limbo."

The two hedgehogs paused for a second to await any more noises that may interrupt them. After about a minute of silence, Sonic moved on to reply. "Yeah, and shouldn't he have brain damage? Be in a wheelchair, or something? No one comes out of any kind of coma right as rain, they're still screwed up afterwards."

Shadow crossed his arms over his chest, his expression now deep with thought. "Indeed, but perhaps the commander used his abilities again?"

Sonic's eyes dilated a bit at this. "You think he healed him out of that coma? Seriously?" He asked breathlessly. "I mean, chaos power can do some crazy stuff, but we can't even do that. Not without being in a super form, at least. No offense to Z and he _is_ crazy strong, but no amateur can just bring people back from the brink of death like that."

Shadow disagreed with a confident smile. "I don't know, Sonic. Perhaps you and the commander aren't blood brothers, but I do believe you both are related someway, somehow."

The hero frowned. "What do you mean...?"

"I'm saying that like you, he should be able to do the impossible. Which includes awakening people from out of their comas."

Something still didn't feel right about that, though. Sonic took this into account and made a small sigh while leaning his back against the door. Zonic claimed he never had knowledge that any Overseer could even use chaotic abilities and yet, he's able to do so. Knuckles was the guardian of the chaos emeralds, and he couldn't even use chaos as well as they could despite being around it's energy all the time. Maybe Zonic was always able to use it, he just never could until now. But something just didn't click, it didn't make sense. Sonic had a bad feeling, his gut telling him that Zonic may have been hiding something from him. Or maybe a few things.

...Actually, Zonic _was_ hiding some things.

 _"Capital punishment's one of the reasons why I became a monster in the first place, you son of a bitch! Don't you idiots ever learn?!"_

 _"Motherfucker, you_ _were_ my _Overseer_ _too! You did_ _this to me!_ _You_ _failed_ me!"

Back out in the war when Scourge glitched that blimp, he showed live executions of past prisoners, including himself. Zonic even once said that Scourge had _previous_ failed executions, and what the hell did that mean? On live footage, Zonic was there along with that Zhadow guy to witness every single death.

 _"He should have been locked in solitary confinement, because he used his 'weakness' to his advantage. In all that time that he was mocked, or bullied, beaten or allegedly sexually harassed-"_

 _"Wait_ what? _" Shadow and Sonic scrunched up their faces in unison with utter disgust. Zonic only rolled his eyes and groaned, that itself was a long story._

 _"D..Don't focus on that. It was just an unproven claim he made before the start of his first failed execution-"_

 _"_ First _failed_ execution? _"_

Whenever Scourge's claims of being abused in prison came up, Zonic would change the topic or avoid the conversation. Distracting them. While he was beating Scourge to a pulp, Scourge even said that Zonic was the one at fault and that _he_ was the one who failed _him_ as an Overseer. And just what was _that_ supposed to mean? Hell, was that why Scourge wanted to kill him so bad? Besides the executions, what did they do to him in here?

Sonic scowled. He might be sounding like a hypocrite right now, but he despised whenever his friends kept big secrets from him like this. However, he hated a liar even more, and he hoped that's not what Zonic's been doing this whole time. Lying straight to his face about Scourge and who knows what else. But that was okay, because Sonic would be sure to ask very specific questions to the one person who he knew for sure wouldn't lie to him: Scourge. He'd spill all the beans without hesitation if it meant putting someone in a bad light and causing trouble. And something told Sonic that Scourge had a lot to say to Zonic that he wasn't able to express on that battle field yesterday.

Time was running out, the interrogation would commence very soon. All they had to do was wait for Zonic to clean up and get out of that damn office-

"Sonic?" He heard Shadow say, snapping him out of his day dreaming.

"Huh?" He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that, heh."

Shadow narrowed his eyes, and he did not smile back. "I feel it. Your suspicion for the commander, it's very toxic." He frowned. "Did he do something in particular?"

Shit, Sonic forgot their wavelengths were absolutely connected at this point. Shadow could feel everything he felt, Sonic couldn't lie to him. He sighed and grimaced while looking away. "I think Zonic's lyin' to me and hiding a bunch of important stuff. After hearing Scourge yell at him yesterday while he was kicking his ass, he was saying a lot of emotional and personal stuff." He made a disappointed expression, his green eyes growing a little cold. "When we question Scourge, I think we're gonna find out a lot of stuff that we don't wanna hear."

"Ignorance may be bliss but it can also be someone's downfall." Shadow reached out and grasped Sonic's hand gently. "I respect Zonic and I can confidently say that he is a very valued ally and a worthy friend. However," He trailed off with a grounded tone. "If he somehow had a hand in any of the events transpiring up until now, then you and you alone as his Champion, need to have a very serious talk with him so you can find out the truth." The grip on his hand tightened lightly for comfort. "I know he cares for you a great deal, but that doesn't give him the right to continuously keep you in the dark like this. At first, I understood why he didn't want you to help out with HQ when you had the chance, but now I'm starting to wonder if your safety isn't the only thing Zonic was concerned about."

Sonic shook his head with a saddened expression. "I really hope that isn't it, Shadow. I really do."

Shadow pulled him in an embrace, to which the hero gladly returned. "I do as well." He kissed the side of Sonic's muzzle. "Intentions usually don't mean a thing, actions do. But in the end, let's hope he at least had your best interest at heart."

"Yeah." He nodded quietly. He let go of Shadow's hand and faced the door to knock on the surface once more. "Yo, Z." He called. "Can we come in?"

They both heard some shuffling coming from the other side. They both gave each other an all knowing look as to what they were trying to do. They were probably trying to clean up their mess before they got in. After about a minute of hasty movements coming from inside of the office, they heard Zonic reply. "You may come in." His voice sounded a little winded. The two hedgehogs took note of this as they carefully walked in and shut the door behind them. Immediately, their eyes scanned the room.

Woah. If their careers as soldiers ever failed, they could always become professional maids because the room was spotless. No spilled over pens and pencils, no toppled folders and files, no scattered papers, no thrown away chair or boots. And surprisingly, no white stains either. Hmm. All of Zonic's office stuff was back on his desk, perfectly organized just like they were before. He as sitting behind the desk comfortably, his head laying against the surface while the other hedgehog sat on the desk next to his head. Their uniforms were fixed up, and they looked normal for the most part. However, their faces were faintly blushing red and their eyes were cloudy with lust. They were slightly panting, too.

As for the Zhadow guy, he truly did look exactly like Shadow. Ruby eyes, white chest fur that was mostly hidden, some of it sticking out of his collar. Red stripes aligned on his pitch black furred limbs, with a tan muzzle and a fit stature. He looked just as stoic and cold as Shadow usually does. Looks like he had a resting bitch face, too. To be honest, he actually looked more agitated when he saw them walk in. Sonic noticed this, and he didn't like that but he kept it to himself. His legs were crossed with his hands folded in his lap, giving them empty glares. Zonic had his head down, his eyes closed as if he was asleep. Must have been exhausted from their 'work out' earlier.

Sonic gave Zhadow a careful smile. "Uhh, hi there!" He greeted as nicely as possible before looking over at Zonic. "Z, you wanna introduce us or...?"

"..." Zonic lifted his head and opened his eyes. Once his eyes settled on Sonic, a smile was drawn across his face. A very pure and happy smile, a smile that almost made Sonic flinch with shivers. Wow, he looked like a different person when he smiled like that. He looked so, so _alive._ "I almost fell asleep there, sorry." He rubbed the back of his hand against one of his eyes before resting it back on the desk. "So good to see you Sonic prime, Shadow prime. This," He looked over at Zhadow, that beautiful smile brightening ten fold as his eyes made little twinkles of passion. "Is First Lieutenant General Zhadow, prime operator of the prison side of the HQ." His cheeks grew even rosier as Zhadow glanced down at his partner with a blank expression. "And absolutely the strongest zone cop in No Zone history." They could hear a hint of Zonic's flirtatious nature crawling through his lips.

Wait, flirtatious? _Zonic?_

Maybe their ears were going bad. The commander of the zone cops slipped from out of his chair and stood up to walk around his desk. He stood by his partner and rested his now gloved hand onto his thigh-woah there, that was a little too close to you-know-where. He went on introducing the two hedgehogs before them.

"This, is Sonic and Shadow prime. Sonic prime is my Champion, the one who you never got to meet. He is the most important Chaos Born alive." He tilted his head. "Remember when I told you that?"

Zhadow narrowed his eyes at Sonic, before turning back to Zonic. "Sort of..." His tone was unsure.

Zonic smiled anyway. "That is fine, you've never got to see him face to face before. You were off in another reality when he came to help us." He glanced over at Sonic. "The first lieutenant was light years away from No Zone, fighting against an evil organization along with some of our troops. At the time, he couldn't have met you if he wanted to."

"Oh," Sonic slowly said. "I see."

Zhadow's eyes swiftly darted to Shadow. "Is that my own prime counterpart?" His voice lowered, growing suspicious.

The twin blue hedgehogs didn't really like the sudden tension drifting into the air. Zonic cleared his throat and continued smiling. "Err, yes-"

The first lieutenant pushed himself off of the desk to plant his feet firmly onto the floor. He then quickly bent forward and crouched down to his knees, slamming his forehead against the ground with his hands beside his head. "Please accept my upmost gratitude." He suddenly exclaimed with a strong voice, shocking the two hedgehogs in front of them. "I was unconscious throughout this entire endeavor, and there aren't enough apologies in the world to fix my extreme negligence. Our home is destroyed as is our HQ, many of our men are gone or in the same boat as I was, but above all else," He briefly lifted his head to stare them dead in the eyes with integrity. "You two saved us all from complete annihilation."

Sonic quickly looked at Shadow for a little help on this one. "U-Uhh, thanks but," He glanced back at Zhadow on the floor. "If it wasn't for Z helping us during the whole thing-"

"Ah, that's right." Zhadow suddenly stood up and grasped Shadow's hand. He shook it rapidly, startling the ultimate life form greatly. "You saved my partner from death. I am forever in your debt, Shadow prime." He cleared his throat and let go before then bowing again to Sonic, but a lot less extreme this time. "And to finally see the Champion of All Realities, the very person who saved my world twice in a row, I give you my most humble respect."

The hero stared with both puzzlement and shock as Shadow wrung out his wrist from being shaken so violently. "Huh. You're a lot more social than I expected."

Zhadow blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Sonic made a smirk at Shadow. "Let's just say your counterpart isn't really the best at that." Once he said that, the hedgehog in question gave the hero a very piercing glare.

The first lieutenant placed his hands behind his back with a more relaxed posture. "I can't say I'm much for conversation either, it wastes time. However, I was supposed to give you my respect as the Champion. This introduction was imperative." He looked over at Zonic and made a gesture to finally exit the office. "Speaking of which, we must commence the interrogation in approximately fifteen minutes. Shall we go?"

Oh good, the interrogation. Sonic tightened his fists with a stiffened body. He was growing more impatient with every second, Zhadow was right. They were wasting time. He grasped Shadow's arm. "Yeah, we should-"

"No." Zonic suddenly said. His expression was no longer pure with happiness, but more shrouded with concern for something. He was scowling, giving off one of his normal glowers at Shadow. "Please excuse us for the delay Sonic prime, but I need to speak with Shadow prime. Alone." He looked at Sonic, and saw that he didn't really like the sudden request. The hero slowly let go of Shadow anyway, before giving a fake smile and a thumbs up. Without a word, his smile instantly flattened and he turned to leave the room by himself. But as he did, he gave Zonic a nasty glare, extremely unlike him. This was unsettling for Sonic, he would have at least said something like 'No prob!' or something among those lines. But this time, he just said nothing and even gave him a very callous look. He couldn't even keep up the charade of faking his smile anymore, it faded before he even left the room. Shadow watched this with caution, before seeing Zonic whisper something to Zhadow's ear. The first lieutenant nodded and patted his shoulder, before joining Sonic on the other side of the office.

Well now they were alone, which is perhaps one reason why Sonic didn't like his sudden decision. After all, he did kiss Shadow not too long ago. Though he released his emotions last night, he might still be a bit untrusting of Zonic because of that, even if it was just a hallucination that caused him to do it. On top of that, it seemed that he didn't really trust Zonic at all at this point. But the commander wasn't a fool, he could probably sense it just as Shadow could. He may not have been his lover, but he was still Sonic's Overseer. As a practical big brother, he supposed he just had that intuition. The ultimate life form readied himself for a particular conversation. "You wanted to speak with only me? Why?" He asked in a quiet tone. Their shadows were right outside the office, he assumed Zonic wanted this conversation private.

Zonic sighed heavily. "My Champion is highly displeased for a number of reasons, but apparently one of those reasons happens to be because of me." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "This entire time he's been good at keeping his emotions at bay, but now he's not even trying to hide it anymore. Constantly, I've been irritating him for minimal things, but I feel as if that exasperation is beginning to peak at it's boiling point." He opened his eyes again with a deeper grimace. "I mean, did you see that?" He asked with a more harsher whisper. "He's never looked at me like that before. I've made so many mistakes in my short life, but what did I do wrong _this_ time?" He exhaled through his nose while dragging a hand through his quills. "This day was almost entirely perfect. I got to spend the majority of it with my love who miraculously wakes up from his coma in great health, a blessing. We made love all day, in any place we could find." He turned his back towards Shadow as he walked toward his desk. "My sanity, though clearly broken, is starting to slowly mend all on it's own. I finally have Scourge in my custody, my remaining men aren't losing their morale despite the great misfortune we've suffered, and I've silenced the warden off my back. And yet," He pulled over some files and folders into his arms. "I'm still failing at my main job, keeping my Champion safe and satisfied."

Shadow watched him check over the files and folders in hand, and he realized some of them had Scourge's real name printed on them. He assumed that was for both the upcoming trial and the interrogation. "I believe that's my responsibility as his lover, not yours."

"Your job is to make him feel happy and loved, yes, but my duty is to keep both his mental and physical state in check." He flipped through some documents before slipping them back in their designated binders. "To protect his world, watch over his progression in power, keeping his sense of justice balanced so that he doesn't stray too far off from his path...Things of that nature."

The biohog frowned with straitening eyes. He mentally repeated what Zonic just said. _Don't stray too far off from his path?_ "What do you mean 'his path'?"

Zonic paused while clutching the documents, and he did not turn around. He swallowed before regaining his posture and tightening his grip on the files. "You know, so he doesn't turn into what the anti-Sonic is."

"Again, I can handle that. I guarantee you that I'll die a painful death one thousand times before I ever let Sonic become what that bastard is, and he never will. Not in a million years. Why would you ever have to worry about that anyway?" Shadow questioned with a hard stare. "He may be your Champion, but he doesn't believe in destiny nor fate. What happens, happens. Whatever came to be, is what it is now. Right now, he's a hero, and he doesn't plan on changing that. It's not a path, it's who he is."

Silence.

Zonic pursed his lips, before biting his tongue and swiftly turning around to head for the door. "But of course, I'm just rambling." He replied passively. That wasn't like him, either. He's doing to him exactly what he would do to Sonic, gloss over the conversation and end it quickly before it got too deep. Well not this time, Shadow wasn't as compassionate as Sonic. "Let us go, Shadow prime-"

"He does indeed have some resentment for you right now," He said with some passive-aggressiveness. "You were right, he's not satisfied. And if someone pisses him off, I don't tend to have as much pacifism as he does." He walked behind the commander, his tone becoming lower and a lot more intimidating.

The commander pushed his gloved fingers more into the folders. "...Are you implying something, Shadow prime?" He still refused to face him. "Is this perhaps, a threat?"

"Normally, it would be. But you're not a stranger to me, and Sonic still values you greatly despite the headaches you've been giving him as of late." He leaned closer, his lips near his ear as his voice's volume nearly vanished entirely. "I will say this. You're good at hiding the truth commander, but you are a horrible liar." Zonic never flinched at his words. As always, he was too hard boiled to break. "Little by little, one by one, Sonic's been catching you in your discrepancies. Like you said, he's kept quiet for a very long time, but now he's losing his patience with you. At this point, he's convinced you're hiding a lot of secrets from him. A lot of crucial information, actually. You're not being very honest with him, and he obviously doesn't appreciate it. Neither do I, since you were supposed to be someone he could trust." He said. "But if either he or I find out that you had anything to do with any of the tragedies that led up to this point, I can assure you, I will not be holding him back. You will deal with his wrath, and I won't be there to pacify him this time."

A minute passed.

Two minutes, maybe three.

...

Zonic finally began to speak.

"...I understand." He finally uttered. "I must be responsible, accept whatever consequences." He admitted. "But know this," He turned to Shadow, his eyes sharp with ambition. "No matter what happens between the anti-Sonic or Sonic prime and I, it will never change the way I feel about him. He's my Champion, and I will do everything in my power to do what's best for him, and I will gladly sacrifice my very life for him." His eyes, they looked moist almost. "He's...He's all I had at one time. So, I don't ever want to lose him. I'll still support him no matter what without question." His eyes lowered, his frown tightening. "Even if he hates me in the end. Even if he _kills_ me." Tearfully, he turned away from Shadow and moved from him.

His heart ached with concern for his words.

 _'Even if he hates me in the end'_? Shadow sighed sadly.

Things were just going from bad to worse.

* * *

Sonic didn't feel like putting on a mask anymore, he was impatient and he was annoyed. Ever since he accepted Dark, he couldn't help but feel a little more touchy than usual. His brows were furrowed, his eyelids lowered with vexation. He tapped his fingers against his arm irritably, his scowl becoming toothy with clenched teeth as his anger continued to boil. He sucked his teeth and growled. "God damn it, Zonic..." He grumbled as he slouched against the office door behind him. What was he talking with Shadow about? Was he telling him to make Sonic back off? He could never read that guy, what was he thinking?!

Zhadow stood beside the door, his body remaining in an appropriate stature for a soldier. His eyes were closed, his body relaxed with even breaths. Upon hearing the blue blur's annoyance, he opened an eye briefly at him, before closing it back. "You should learn meditation," He said out of no where, making Sonic look up from his grouching. "The more you are at peace with yourself in mind, you will in body as well." Shadow told him something similar along those lines a couple years ago.

He appreciated the advice, as he did need to relax, but he just couldn't. "I've tried that plenty of times, never works for me. Shadow said I wasn't doing it right."

"You probably weren't, because it didn't work. Once you do it correctly, emptying your brain of all the fuss and stress," The first lieutenant spoke with ease. "Living through the day gets just a little bit easier."

Sonic scoffed at his zen ways. "That's not how life works."

Zhadow agreed easily. "Of course it doesn't." He said with a small laugh. "Life is excruciating and painful, and it always will be. It sucks, and most of it will never get better." He hesitantly opened his red eyes, some of them hiding sorrow. "Never, ever."

Yeah, that's what it seemed like. That nothing, ever gets better. That no matter what, everyone just fails and fails and fails _and fails..._ That nothing ever lightens up, not even a little bit. It's always just gloomy, dark and cold. People are dying, people are depressed, people are hopeless. Some people are just waiting for death to come, as they feel as if everything else is meaningless. That way of thinking was a hole, a hole Dark kept trying to pull Sonic in. It was his retaliation for not accepting him. But now that he accepted his abilities as a whole, he realized that this way of thinking wasn't just negative. It was, in some ways, realistic. Damn, was this pessimism? It felt horrible. Shadow once felt like this all the time, and this was how he lived? Feeling empty and disappointed at just everything that came his way?

Damn...

"..." Sonic said nothing in return at that.

Zhadow continued. "That's why when you get those small instances of happiness, such as your love for my counterpart," Sonic flinched. Shit, he figured it out that fast? Either that or Zonic told him. "You cherish them with all of the emotion you can muster, so they can push you to do what you need to do. It'll be hard to do things by yourself, as you don't feel motivated to do them. That's why you use a crutch," He said, turning to face Sonic. "That crutch has to be those small instances of happiness. You have to use that to keep going forward. Otherwise, you might as well stay handicapped with despair, and never make an attempt to try and move ahead." He leaned against the wall. "Zonic learned the hard way when I left him, and he had nothing else to keep him standing except for his dying pride, and his responsibility to keep you safe. Don't let the same happen to you. Or one day, it'll be too late and," Zhadow slowly lowered his head to the floor with a bitter smile. "You'll find yourself _seeing things_ too."

Any ounce of the hero's anger instantly vanished with a gaping mouth. "...What?" He nearly whispered. "Zonic's seeing stuff?"

A few more bittersweet chuckles left the black hedgehog. "Isn't it sad? He's actually gone insane. I thought it was merely an exaggeration, until Zouge pulled him aside to break it all down to me. At first, we only saw her to make a mental check up for me. We left with results for him instead."

* * *

 _The ivory bat smiled as she clasped her hands together. "He's lost a few memories before the whole Moebius incident, but he remembers most of the important stuff." She gave a happy expression towards Zonic. "Of course he remembers you, his colleagues, and the Warden. He also remembers Scourge and The Tragedy, and he remember all of his training. He's only a little spaced out on the whole Sonic prime thing, but he still fully understands your duty as an Overseer." She placed a hand on her cheek while tilting her head to the side. "It's quite a miracle, actually. His health is impeccable and he's not showing any signs of a post-comatosed state. You're very lucky, first lieutenant."_

 _Zhadow sighed while Zonic smiled joyously. "That's a relief, at least."_

 _Zouge looked over at Zonic, asking him to please leave for just a moment. "Commander, do you mind fetching the first lieutenant some water from the break room? He needs to stay hydrated."  
_

 _Zonic instantly nodded and moved his legs. "Of course, counselor. It'll only take a second." He zipped from out of the hospital room immediately, leaving a blue streak behind._

 _She watched him leave, and hurried behind him to shut the door firmly. She sighed sadly, now grimacing worriedly. She gradually looked back over at Zhadow and folded her hands in front of her. "I, have some bad news, first lieutenant." She began slowly while walking towards his bed. "We ran some mental evaluations on both you and the commander."_

 _He blinked. "Why? I'm the patient, not him."_

 _"Some other officers and I have been thinking about running some tests on him for a while now, after all he's been through." The woman gave him a sympathetic expression. "It's quick, all we had to do was scan his brain as we did you. Takes just a few seconds. He, asked me to tell you the results first. He had a feeling that he already knew what it was, but he said it wouldn't be right to hide it from you."_

 _He felt his heart sink. "What are you talking about? What's wrong with my commander?"_

 _Zouge licked her lips as they instantly became dry, she just had to rip it off like a bandaid. "...He has schizoaffective disorder. I'm afraid our commander," She hesitated. "He's, he's very out of his mind, sir."_

 _Zhadow was almost speechless. "Tell me the symptoms, Zouge." He became furious. "Now!"_

 _She winced at his tone, looking away. "It's a combination of symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorder, such as depression or bipolar disorder. Symptoms may occur at the same time or at different times. This may include delusions, hallucinations, depressed episodes, and manic periods of high energy. Zhadow," She used his name respectfully, now informal and entirely serious. "He's committed gruesome police brutality to several prisoners, has been talking to your unconscious body the entire time you've been out, has been violent with our Warden, has been chronically depressed with symptoms of severe heartbreak, and I've even caught him laughing to himself with no one else in the room." She slowly shook her head as the hedgehog's eyes widened. "He even told me during his scanning that, he kept seeing things that aren't there. He saw someone who he claimed looked like himself, but he said it wasn't Sonic prime. He also said he saw someone else who looked like the anti-Sonic when he was originally blue."_

 _The first lieutenant stared down at the sheets. "But, Sonic prime is the only person in all the realities who looks exactly like him. No one else in the entire universe has his exact DNA match. The same goes for the anti-Sonic."_

 _"That's the problem. He knows this, but for some reason he thinks they're real. He wouldn't tell anyone, because he was afraid of worrying the other officers even more. He was so confused," She covered her mouth. "So scared...He kept blaming himself for them being there, saying how everything was his fault." She placed a hand onto his shoulder solemnly. "The more he falls into his own madness, the more it kills him from the inside out. He's killing himself. I am so sorry, but losing you was too hard for him to handle. His mind, it's gone."_

 _..._

 _Zhadow never looked at her again._

* * *

Sonic's face was empty with emotion at this point. "You," He whispered. "You can't be real." He mumbled in disbelief. He turned to Zhadow, his eyes clear with denial. "He's, he's not that far gone. He can't be, he looks fine." He tried to smile. "Ha, I mean, this is the guy who commanded a whole brigade, you know? He's the one who beat up Scourge and dragged him in the prison, he's a badass." That smile became more fragile the more it curled. "Sure, he's been through hell, but he's the toughest guy in this whole building. Nothing keeps him down for long." Why did it suddenly feel like something didn't feel right within this place? Why did Sonic's body feel so cold? "S-So, you're lying." For some reason, Sonic mentally felt only fear. His voice was shaking now. "Right?"

Even still, Zhadow's bittersweet smile stayed. "Sorry, Sonic prime. I'm a better liar than Zonic, but right now," His expression didn't match it. "I don't have the heart to tell one."

No. No...Sonic felt the energy in his body dissipate, his face now lifeless. "Zonic, Zonic is..." That conversation from before was really starting to ring true, it was starting to feel as if nothing truly mattered anymore.

"Grip your senses while you still have it Sonic prime, never let them go." The first lieutenant advised. "I may not know you, but I know well enough that it would destroy him permanently if your mind became shattered as well."

Sonic's eyes shifted. Why was he hearing about this _now?_ Sure Zhadow just found out in actual detail, but Zonic already knew he had a severe problem. A problem that was killing him the crazier he got. This was just yet another thing Zonic hid from him. What was he suppose to do now? He felt justified in feeling contempt for his secrecy, but now he just felt like shit. Why wasn't he allowed to feel angry? Why did he have to feel so, guilty now?

He stared at the wall in front of them. "Hey," He said softly. "Has Zonic ever, hid anything else from you before?"

"Besides his purging habits and the negligence to his physical health? No."

Oh great. So that's why Zonic never gained any weight, he always forced himself to puke everything out. No wonder that moron always looked so drained and tired. It wasn't just because of his heartbreak, it was because he was starving himself period. It was funny, his body looked like it was in perfect shape. Not malnourished, not boney, healthy. Perhaps Zonic knew just how much to throw up, and just enough to consume. He's been doing this for so long, he's probably got the process down packed. Just like one of those self-conscious super models.

As for Zhadow's answer, either he was just as ignorant as they were, or he knew all of the secrets Zonic and was just lying for him. Chaos, Zonic was just making everything ten times harder for him. What the hell was he supposed to do? Sonic felt the door knob turn from behind him.

Zonic and Shadow were coming out, and soon it would be time for the interrogation.

* * *

 **END - 38**

 **(LONG Author's note, sorry!)**

 **Ooohh, so much foreshadowing.**

 **I'd like to thank an** _Anon_ **for the review for the last chapter, I really enjoyed reading it. ^_^**

 _Anaallen44_ **, yes it is indeed true that plenty of authors and creators have been crucified for pairing certain couples a certain way. We already PM'd about it, but I wanted to shed some light on it to everyone else so they can understand the situation a little bit better. This beautiful reviewer asked why I didn't make Dark Sonic dominate Shadow in chapter 37 (It's technically chapter 42). It was an emotional moment for both of them, but it also showed how emotional the ultimate life form could get for Sonic's happiness. For his vulnerability, it would have been even more dramatic to make him the bottom in the sex scene. And while I would have LOVED to write that, I'm too intimidated by the fandom to do so.**

 **I know, I know. Sounds a little silly to be scared of other people's opinions. However, just recently, a fellow author was flamed and threatened for writing a certain story with this idea. They were given several nasty and just God awful messages about how making Shadow a more submissive partner was just, wrong. Isn't that _fucking stupid?_ Well it happened, and it nearly made the author delete the story. People are touchy and sensitive in this new society, so you can never do what you like without consequences. Not even if it's safe, legal and harmless. And thus, this is why I didn't write the last chapter this way.**

 **Anyways, there was some Zonadowness, so that's nice. And for anyone who thinks Zonic may be a little too OOC for acting head-over-heels whenever he's around Zhadow, you'd be right. He is a bit out of character to be smiling like a school girl, I suppose. However, keep these things in mind.**

 **One: Zonic is out of his mind, and his insanity is killing him. Zhadow is the only person in existence who can pacify him. Zonic clings to his very being for comfort, and he doesn't plan on letting go anytime soon.**

 **Two: Besides Zector, Zespio and Sonic, Zhadow is all Zonic has in terms of a close relationship. In fact, Zonic _physically_ met Zhadow first before Zespio, Zector or Sonic. (In my head cannon of course) He doesn't have any parents, and was lonely for a majority of his life working in a harsh workplace with a huge ass responsibility. He dealt with it all on his own until he got into his teens. (Think about how stressful this is for a small child. Zonic's mental problems have been developing for a very long time.) Zhadow is Zonic's first and only love, and one of his very first friends. He was the first person to show that he actually gave a shit about him, and one of the only people who made him feel like he mattered. He is extremely dear to him.**

 **Three: Put yourself in Zonic's situation. What if your husband/wife was in a coma for a month (or more) after being shot in the head, with the doctors telling you there was no chance of him/her ever waking up? If you had a heart and if you acted like a normal human being, you'd be pretty depressed without them too. (If you truly loved them, anyway. Some spouses don't love each other at all.) And if they miraculously woke up without any issues, you'd be pretty damn happy, wouldn't you? You'd probably treat them as if they're untouchable, as if they're solid gold. You'd be extra loving, never wanting to leave their side after everything you both have been through.**

 **That being said, these are the reasons why I'm writing Zonic this way now. He finally got Zhadow back, he's finally happy. Even as his fragile mind breaks, perhaps it can be mended with love.**

 _ **For now.**_


	44. The Talk

**39 - The "Talk"**

* * *

The four hedgehogs walked down the hall of one of the lower floors to HQ, any soldier passing by them stopping and cheering. They were happy that their commander and the Champion of All Realities graced them with their presence, but they were more excited about Zhadow's return. They saluted or bowed immediately, greeting him with nothing but admiration and respect. Saying how much they miss him, how much they appreciated his prowess in the force, or how well off they'd be now thanks to his sudden healthy return. With him being alive, it boosted the hopes of all the officers still working here. He would briefly wave back or nod his head at a salute, but he would always thank someone for their service in the war. Didn't matter who it was who ran up to them as they walked, everyone here did their part and he wanted everyone to know that he was not only grateful, but very proud.

The entire time they walked, Sonic and Shadow were silent. Sonic once again was excellent at wearing that mask, giving fake smiles and waves to other officers who may have greeted him or Shadow. The ultimate life form didn't do much either, only doing the same as Zhadow did and nod back at them with approval. He could tell Sonic still felt very conflicted about his twin, but he didn't want to press the issue right now. Zonic didn't say much, but he did give some of their officers another rare series of small genuine smiles. He also commended them for their continued loyalty and hard work even after the war, telling others not to push themselves too hard for their sake. The two lieutenant generals were both celebrities in this HQ, and their fellow officers were their entourage. They treated this corridor as if it was a red carpet runway, their commander and prisoner chief being their top idols.

As they made it through the end of the corridor, they were now faced with a wide and large elevator. This one was different from one of the main ones besides it's size, it was locked with a number code beside it too. Suddenly, two familiar high ranking officers stepped in front of them to escort them inside. Zector and Zespio, the colonel duo. They saluted the lieutenant generals without hesitation, big smiles on their faces. They then knelt down to Zhadow's front, their heads low to the floor. "First Lieutenant General Zhadow," They greeted simultaneously. "We are of your service forevermore, sir."

Zhadow kept a straight face, but it was obvious he held a strong amount of pride for these two. "Second lieutenant's colonels. What a great pleasure seeing you both again in good health." He eyed them both carefully. "Zonic has very well informed me of all your hard work. You both fought valiantly in the war, and you protected the commander with your very lives. Of course, many soldiers deserve rewards for their courageous efforts, but you two deserve the highest honor." He placed his hands behind his back. "At ease, rise." He commanded, the two doing as he said quickly with straightened postures. "You have my deepest gratitude. Were it not for officers like you, this entire building could have been destroyed along with the rest of the city. Perhaps even worse."

Zespio nodded. "Our loyalty lies with you and our commander, first lieutenant general."

The crocodile agreed confidently. "That's right. We're with you until the very end!"

Zhadow had a ghost of a smile. He glanced over at Zonic with an impressed expression. "You've humbled and disciplined our men well, second lieutenant. You became a just leader in a time of emergency. Hold your head high."

Zonic only bowed in return, as if he wasn't worthy of praise. "Only doing my job, first lieutenant. I am undeserving of your reverence, I could have done a lot more out there." He almost sounded submissive, Sonic and Shadow noticed. They've never seen him act like this towards anyone. They figured he was the top dog amongst everyone, but with Zhadow here, it felt like he was nothing compared to him. Either Zonic had very little respect for himself when it came to him or he truly idolized Zhadow as the end all and be all. Probably both.

His lover scoffed in return. "I see. Now that introductions are out of the way," Zhadow said with an intrigued tone. "Since you both are the first lieutenant's most trusted advisors, allow me to relay some information publicly. In front of all of you." He walked over to Zector and placed his hand onto his shoulder while looking over at Zespio. "Of course, you will keep this minor information classified. Should either of you leak this information to anyone else besides Sonic or Shadow prime," A cruel smirk drew onto his face. "I will not hesitate to hang you both by your tails."

The two flinched and nodded quickly. "O-Of course, sir."

"Good," Zhadow said. "You see," He rose his hand and directed it towards Zonic, who seemed a little put off by this. "Zonic here is my lover."

Everyone in the area besides Zhadow all snapped their heads in his direction while gawking. Though still surprised, Zonic was the least shocked at of all of them. He blushed and instantly looked away, but didn't say a word back at first.

Stammering, Zector blinked several times. "B-Boss? Is that true?"

Clearing his throat nervously while beginning to fan himself with his hand, Zonic kept his eyes adverted. "Y-Yes, it is true." He confessed as he began to sweat a little. "We've been together for years, now. This is obviously why his previous condition put me in a pathetic state of depression." He gulped while still attempting to look like a 'just leader'. "We planned on telling you two later on but," He gave Zhadow a glare. "Apparently the first lieutenant had other plans."

Zhadow shrugged with a simple sneer. "Why not? It's not that big of a deal."

"F-First lieutenant, please watch your tongue." Zonic warned with a sheepish glower. "This is still a private matter-"

The crocodile placed his large fists on his hips. "So he's your boyfriend, huh Boss?" He asked with curiosity.

Immediately, Zonic froze up, his muzzle turning red profusely. "B-Boy...friend..." He repeated in a forbidden whisper. He couldn't stop himself from stuttering. Both his twin and Shadow found this behavior incredibly amusing, and they were both trying their best not to smile at his misfortune. "Yes, t-that is correct." Before Zonic could say anything else, Zhadow suddenly stepped beside him, pulling him close with one arm. "...?"

"Yes," Zhadow added. "We're practically married at this point."

Zonic gaped with alarm. "...!"

 _Bum bump, bum bump, bum bump..._

Zespio suddenly hummed while narrowing his eyes at them together. "Now that I think about it, this isn't _too_ surprising. You two always bickered like a married couple. Like husband and wife, I guess."

The commander of around three thousand men and women, the very person who rushed into war without a second thought, the Grand Overseer of powerful beings named Chaos Born, was speechless and pitifully embarrassed. His cheeks were so red, he resembled a burning tea kettle. "Husband and..." He murmured weakly. _H-Husbands?_ He thought. His blue ears blew out steam, his hands both desperately trying to fan himself to rid off some of his flustered nature.

Zector laughed the mention of them being married. "Heheh. This is kind of cool though, you two are like a power couple!"

And right when he said that, Zonic was paralyzed with mortification. "...!" Before their very eyes, royal blue aura surrounded him with intensity, raising into the air like flames as his body rose greatly in temperature. Both Sonic and Shadow recognized that, that was all chaos energy. His emotions were so stirred up, he could no longer contain it inside of his body. Ironically, Zhadow didn't even seemed phased by this at all.

He just continued to pat Zonic on the back, leering at his reactions. "Well, what can I say?" He said. "He's _my commander_ , and he always will be." Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, he was beginning to pat something lower down his back.

Zonic lost his balance by trying to step away and accidentally fell into Sonic's arms, nearly fainting from all of the embarrassment. "W-Woah..!" The hero just barely caught him, no longer finding this humorous. Zonic was going to pass out if Zhadow kept this up. "Z, get yourself together!" Even Shadow was starting to worry.

 _H-Husband and...power...couple...?_ His eyes had hearts in them, it was like he was delusional.

Zespio realized their boss was starting to lose his health from this. "S-Sir?"

Zhadow looked over at his lover with boredom. "Are you alright, _my commander?_ "

His chest pounded so hard, Sonic could feel his heart pulse his veins just by holding him up. Zonic heart fluttered drastically, making sounds of exhaustion as he nearly fainted right then and there. Red began to drip out of his nostrils, his mouth twitching. _Y-Your commander..._ He couldn't handle this.

"Stand up on your own, _my love._ "

Zonic thrashed to the side in Sonic's hold as his heart made another harsh palpitation. _Y-Your l-lo...l-lo-_ Zhadow never called him that before, his skin was on fire right now. His nose leaking more blood as even more pink hearts clouded his green eyes. The more Zhadow talked, the more it felt like someone was shooting a cupid arrow into his chest. A sniper blasting bullets of love into his rib cage over and over.

Before he knew it, Zhadow was directly in front of him. He gently caressed the side of his crimson muzzle, slyly whispering to him. "Zonic..." He trailed off with a suggestive smile.

Sonic could feel his life force draining from his very touch, Zonic was gasping as if he was dying. He needed a pacemaker at this point, his chest was beating too hard again. He was clutching at his uniform top, his heart was going to explode. "I-I... _I-_ "

Sonic swiped Zonic away from him immediately. "S-STOP! You're gonna kill him!"

A heft laughter flowed through the first lieutenant's lips, smiling as Zonic practically melted in Sonic's arms. Smoke rose from his body as his chaos energy cooked him from the inside out from being extremely flustered. His fingers and leg twitched, but he currently couldn't move right now. He was entirely limp. "Normally, I'd never call you that in public or even behind closed doors, but seeing you react this way was definitely worth it." He mocked with another hardy laugh. "Just like old times, huh rookie?"

With shame, Zonic weakly covered his face. "D-Damn you..."

Shadow blinked. "Wait, this is _normal?_ You've done this before?" He asked while turning to his counterpart.

Zhadow chuckled. "Yes. All of you know him as a hard-boiled leader with a fearsome persona, but I personally know him as a stubborn teenager who gets embarrassed way too easily. You just have to push the right buttons." He watched as Sonic carefully helped Zonic back on his own two feet, who was still very winded from releasing so much chaos energy due to the spike in his emotions. Zhadow leaned a little closer to Shadow while lowering his voice. "He's extremely sensitive, flustering him like this is a cakewalk. It's a little game we like to play."

The ultimate life form was still very much stunned. "You both do this to each other on a daily basis?"

Zonic somehow managed to regain his composure, his nose still leaking of blood. Sonic had ran to a nearby bathroom only to return with tissue in merely seconds. "U-Unfortunately," He weakly tried to say while fanning himself again. "This is our way of picking with each other."

Sonic squinted. "By making each other lose copious amounts of blood from sheer embarrassment?"

His twin made a tired expression. "Not specifically, but I suppose that's a good example." He pointed a sharp glare at his lover as he blew his nose of any lingering blood. "As for you, be on your toes. I'll get you back for this humiliation before sunset."

Zhadow gave him an unimpressed stare right back while crossing his arms. "Sure you will, rookie." He gave him a playful wink before turning to a shocked Zespio and Zector. "You may now escort us to the titanium cell block."

They both gave each other a look. "Uhhh," So their bosses were involved with each other romantically, and they were both equally immature and way too playful. The very men that struck fear into any prisoner who walked through the HQ's doors, occasionally teased each other like children on a school playground. Yup, you couldn't make this stuff up. They soon shrugged and stepped in front of the elevator. "Yes, sir..."

Zonic cautiously stood by Zhadow, who whispered some small apologies in his ear while holding him close. At first the commander wouldn't budge, but after a minute or two, he cracked a smile with a smaller blush. To see someone like him get worked up so easily from being teased, it was definitely intriguing to say the least. Zonic loved this guy so much, he nearly passed out from blood loss all because he called him a couple pet names. Not only that, but this was a cat-and-mouse thing for them. This was how they playfully fought with each other, almost like how Shadow and Sonic messed with each other. That was kind of adorable. Sonic almost smiled himself, until he realized what would be coming next the second Zespio and Zector unlocked that elevator. Shadow felt his uneasiness, and joined his side. It was only a matter of time before they all would speak with Scourge.

They were all grateful of the small amount of humor they gained before the madness began.

* * *

"Technically, I've no right to ask any questions." Zhadow explained. "I was never present during the entire ordeal, but I will instead observe." He stepped back and stood in front of the entrance to the underground room. Before walking inside, Zector and Zespio gave everyone a control bracelet. The room inside drained any form of power, especially chaos energy so they could keep Scourge down and weakened. They didn't want to risk Sonic nor Shadow growing fatigued, so they gave them control bracelets that helped cancel out the room's ability, including their leader since he also could use chaos. The instant any stepped inside to gaze upon Scourge's cell, both the blue twins gained a dark expression on their faces. Zhadow and Shadow shared a glance between each other, as if they understood the stabbing animosity the two both shared for Scourge.

However, that wasn't the only reason why the twins looked like that. Shadow wasn't sure if Zhadow knew, but something told him the guy wasn't slow. He was a counterpart to himself after all, he had to have known there was some level of tension in the air whenever the two got too close together. Even as Sonic glared at his sleeping anti-double in his crappy cell, he would glare at Zonic from behind. He wouldn't linger and glare for too long, Sonic was too clever for that. He would look away just in case someone caught him. After some time of staring at Scourge sleep against his flat cot, Zonic ordered for his men to unlock his cell and get this over with. There was glass separating his cell and the rest of the interrogation room, with a couple chairs in front of it.

Zespio and Zector unlocked and stepped through Scourge's cell. They stood in front of the bed, ready to awaken the snoring green abomination. Zonic pulled up a seat and sat down while Sonic stood beside it with his arms crossed.

Zespio briefly turned to Zonic. "Permission to speak freely, commander?"

"Permission granted, colonel." The second lieutenant general replied.

"Did you receive the recording last night?" The chameleon asked.

Zonic nodded. "I did. However, I am not sure what any of it means. Now," He quickly switched the subject. "Drag him closer to the glass. There won't be a trial until we question him, so I want to get this over with." Sonic frowned at that. There he went again, blowing off the topic just to get to where he wanted. What recording was he talking about? DId it have important information from Scourge? Why didn't Sonic know about this? This was getting him more annoyed. Shadow was going to stand by Sonic for support, but something told him to just stand back and let the hero handle this on his own. He couldn't keep hugging him and comforting him whenever a stressful situation occurred. Besides, Sonic was no child, he was a grown adult at this point. He's proved to him that he can handle plenty of stressful situations on his own, even Scourge. That meant he could handle Zonic on his own, too.

Shadow stood by against the wall, watching carefully. Zector kicked the green hedgehog in the cot. He yelped and woke up with a start, before falling off of the shabby excuse for a bed right onto the floor, and was soon dragged by Zespio out of the cell. Zector pulled the wooden chair that sat in the cell, and pushed it in front of the interrogation glass. Zespio tossed Scourge onto the chair before stepping out, while the crocodile stayed by the anti-double to make sure he wouldn't pull anything. He then placed something similar to their control bracelets onto his bare wrist, clipping it on like a shackle. Looks like he wouldn't be getting that off any time soon.

Scourge looked tired and irritated, but he brightened up the instant he saw Sonic's face. He slammed his face against the glass with glee. "Bluuuuue!" He cried. "Like oh my gosh, I missed you like, _sooooo_ much!" That's when red spread across his face, his tongue dangling, flicking and smearing onto the surface. "I hope you came to have your way with me in this cell. You can force me if you want, I won't mind!" A disturbing grin drew across his face. "I'm tight enough for you, you can be on top! Whatever you want, I'll happily do it for you without hesitation!" His nails scratched against the glass harshly. " _Fuck,_ you look so hot when you're pissed. Do me now, daddy~!" He made kissy faces. "Mmmn, mmnn~" He was breathing like an uncontrollable dog. "Come're Blue, lemme taste your skin!"

With monotony, Zonic snapped his fingers. "Zector?"

The crocodile nodded. "Yes sir." He then placed something onto Scourge's shoulder.

Before the green hedgehog could turn to look and see what it was, he grunted in pain as bolts of electricity shot throughout his body. "...!" He quivered against the chair with alarm, as he hadn't been electrocuted in years. Sonic winced at this, but didn't turn away. Zector pulled the object away and continued to stand beside the prisoner with a blank expression. It was high voltage taser. Scourge panted heavily, his hand holding his arm that now had a burnt bruise. "Shit," He said breathlessly. "That almost hurt." Sonic considered that as pay back for what Scourge did to his legs back in his castle.

"We'll be having none of that, Ogilvie." Zonic said while folding his hands into his lap. "You know why we're all here. Let's get started, shall we?"

Sonic watched his twin carefully. "Zonic-"

"Starting from the beginning," He cut him off just like that. Sonic had a feeling he'd do that though, so he'd just keep quiet for now. "Approximately one year ago, you caused a riot in my facility along with your ex-girlfriend who helped conspire with you to escape during the ruckus. Then you return home and start your planning of mass destruction. I want you to elaborate every single detail to this plan of yours. Why you kidnapped my Champion, why you destroyed his world, and why you thought it was an ingenious idea to start a war in our world. Leave nothing out, I don't care how long it takes." He ordered coldly. "And don't even think about lying or concealing any information, because you are shackled to a lie detector bracelet. Engineered by the Warden himself. If you lie, a noise will emanate from it. Speak honestly and without hesitation, do you understand?"

Scourge scowled at him with low eyes, shaking his head slowly as he sighed. He wasn't saying no to the question, it was more like he was shaking his head at Zonic specifically. Almost in disappointment. Did he do something wrong? The anti-double just shrugged and leaned back in the chair. "Whatever, sure." He mumbled. "Like you said, I'll start from the beginning-" He coughed and rubbed his throat. "Damn it..." His voice did sound a bit hoarse.

Sonic blinked. "Z, did you give him water at all?"

"He's been fed." Zonic replied nonchalantly without even looking at him.

"That's not what I-"

"Please be quiet, Sonic prime."

...Okay, that was a little _rude._

Sonic stuck his tongue in his cheek and tried not to dwell on that. After all, he was right. They shouldn't care about Scourge's well being, they should just focus on him answering. However, Zonic had one more time to cut him off like that. That's what Sonic kept telling himself as he tamed his anger. Scourge paused for a minute, staring at them with a peculiar gaze, before attempting to continue. "I wanted my birthday to pass first, so I could turn nineteen. Physically, I'm older than Blue over here thanks to the mutation thing, but we're still all the same age. When Blue and I turned nineteen, there was some power available to us. In that time of waiting, I used it to make my plans and watch Blue." He saw Sonic's face shrivel in disgust. "Yup, been stalking you for a loooong time." Scourge smirked a bit." Anyway, when our birthdays hit, he went to his home island, Christmas Island, and I went into a secret room in my castle. That's where our new powers were hidden, where our personal shrines were."

Yes, that's when all of this started. At least Sonic could follow his explanation. The others in this room probably didn't understand but Sonic and Zonic did.

"I got three. Regeneration immortality shit, a power boost for my own super form, and the ability to steal other forms." He stared at Sonic again. "Meanwhile, you only got one." The hero stared back silently. "After I got this power and tweaking a few things in my plans, I went on to travel to Mobius prime so I could kidnap you. I had to get rid of your Robotnik first so he wouldn't get in my way, then I went on to visit you. In reality, I never wanted to keep you, Blue." He said, making him raise his brows. "I wasn't in love with you yet, so I never wanted to keep you for myself at first. I just wanted to steal your demonic form to use for myself. The plan was to let you go after I took it, but that's when I got obsessed with you, so I wanted to keep you for just a little while longer." He said with a devious smile. "I gave you back to your friends after that whole Dark Sonic fiasco and went back to my world. I didn't care about losing you at the time, wasn't part of the plan to begin with. I was just toying with your friends." He lightly kicked his feet back and forth. "Then I went home, and I prepared the plan to invade Mobius and travel to No Zone to start the war."

This one really got their attention.

"I stayed a little while before Blue and Stripes showed up just in time for step daddy Zhadow over here." Scourge turned his gaze to the black hedgehog in uniform. "I knew someone from No Zone would come to Moebius to search for me, and I wanted it to be Zonic so I could kill him. Sadly, it was just you, but you _did_ do me a favor. After I put you in a coma, I used your armor to make some schematics and designed armor for my own men to use in the war. Of course it looked like regular clothing to you, but it was actually a lot tougher than you think. I did that to make the war just a little bit more interesting, I didn't care if it was actually useful or not." He said that last part with a chuckle. In other words, he made schematics for armor just for the hell of it, it wasn't to actually gain in advantage in the war. He just wanted to have fun with it. "So after I did that, I went back to Blue's world."

Zonic narrowed his eyes. "The anti-Miles told Sonic prime you were off in _our_ world."

Scourge tilted his head. "Oh did he?" He asked. "Well, that was the plan _at first_ , but I needed to do something important with the new form I stole. I wanted more power to use from it, I didn't have all of it's abilities yet. You see," Scourge began. "As a natural born anti, I have some, _complications._ " He was talking around that. "It's a shit ton of stuff to explain, so I won't bore you with those details. But I will give ya _these_ details," He quickly added with a pointed index finger. "In summation, if someone like me wanted to take full charge of a powerful super form that doesn't belong to me, like _**the demon**_ or _the light one,_ I needed to make a sacrifice in a contract. That if I plagued Sonic's world with enough misery, I'd get as much power as I needed to go against him. If I failed in doing this, I'd get a penalty. Instant death being the ultimate price, with a slow death by corruption being my punishment if the demon grew impatient. I also had to make that damage to Sonic's world irreversible in order to fulfill my right to use all of it's power to complete the contract. And so," He grinned. "That's why I made my ex girlfriend and some of my men invade Mobius prime. So I could destroy it, and kill everyone in it! That was a big enough sacrifice to gain the demon's trust, so I could use all of his powers as I see fit for as long as I want!"

Sonic's fists tightened. _That's_ why he destroyed his world but then suddenly abandoned it. He never wanted to rule over it or conquer it, he needed it destroyed so he could use those lives as a sacrifice to that demonic form. It fed off of havoc and destruction, something Sonic never satisfied. No wonder it so willingly left for a new host, a new host who wouldn't hesitate in killing millions of people for it's pleasure.

"But," His anti-self continued. "As they were off setting fires to your world, I went back to No Zone like I originally planned to get my new army ready. I still had some of my men from Moebius left over, but I wanted to use some of yours too, step daddy Zonic. Thanks to my mind fucking power, I was able to convince them. And well, some of them I didn't even bother controlling, because they completely believed in me at that point. I showed them _the truth_ through my powers, and they jumped at the opportunity to fight for my sake." He said with a smirk. "We all were hiding amongst your own people, watching and stalking Blue from afar in disguises. Fleetway, and yes I call him that, did me a favor and weakened Stripes' and Blue's super forms so they couldn't whip it out and use them in the war. After all, that's cheating, and no one should be using a super form until we have our final boss battle."

It was his fault that their super forms were drained for so long. Like Scourge practically said, they could have easily ended the war in seconds with power like that on their side. A 'cheat', in his eyes. No wonder he did that.

"During that festival bullshit, we tampered with No Zone militia and stuff. Rigging your planes and ships with bombs. Then the war happened and well, you all know how that went down." He brought his hands to himself as a gesture. "I lost, and you captured. Even though your casualty rates went through the God damn roof, you still won... _I guess._ Hahahahahaaa..." He laughed under his breath, his body lightly shaking from his low cackling.

The commander however wasn't convinced. "That's not it, you planned ahead of this too." Zonic pointed out with confidence. "Like I said, don't hold back." He said while leaning forward. "What were you planning to do next?"

Scourge smirked. "I was gonna kill you, kidnap Blue and go to my castle. Didn't matter who won or lost that war, I only started it so I could take out the Overseer and his enablers. I didn't give a shit how many people died, the more the merrier."

That was beyond cruel and gruesome. He used his own men like livestock, not caring who lost their life even if they worked for him. But...His _enablers?_ Sonic blinked in confusion. What did he mean by that? "What do you mea-"

The commander cut him off once more. "Why kill me, Ogilvie?" Damn it, Zonic.

"Because you're the foreman of the Chaos Born. I needed you out of the way so nothing could stop me from getting to Blue."

Zonic tapped his fingers against his sleeves gently. "But wasn't Sonic prime the one you wanted to kill all this time?" He asked calmly. "Why the change?"

"Oh I need to kill Sonic too, but I had to get to you first. After all, you're being con-"

The second lieutenant general tightened his pursed lips and scowled. "Next question,"

Sonic, Shadow, and both of his colonels immediately turned to Zonic in shock. Why didn't he let Scourge finish, that could have been crucial information! Shadow cleared his throat and tried to speak. "Commander, Scourge wasn't finished."

"No need." He replied dismissively once more. Sonic clenched his teeth in exasperation, before turning to glance at Zhadow for a little support. He needed to get Zonic under control, this was absolutely outrageous-!

Wait...

...

Sonic's eyes widened.

Zhadow was no longer looking in their direction. Instead, his eyes had a dead glare to them, just like Zonic did right now. As if he didn't give a shit about any of this, only wanting to get this over with. _That son of a bitch._ Sonic tightened his fists, the darkness in his heart rising increasingly. No, calm down. _Not yet, not yet,_ he told himself. No, he wanted Zonic to finish this bullshit so he could give him a piece of his mind when this was all over. He had an idea, anyway. He closed his eyes and made a large exhale, before crossing his arms and looking back at Scourge. Again, Scourge eyed both Zonic and Sonic carefully.

"Next and final question," Zonic said with a stern tone. Final question? Final question!? He's gotta be fucking kidding, that wasn't right! There were way too many weird things going on that required answers! "Is it true that you were the one who not only murdered _**King Jules of Moebius**_ during the time of The Great Peace, but the sole perpetrator of causing The Tragedy?"

Scourge narrowed his eyes, his smile falling. "Yup, sure am." He said with less enthusiasm. "Don't feel no remorse, either. Not for anything I've done thus far. They all needed to die." His tone grew incredibly evil, abnormal for his usual playfully malevolent nature. Sonic would have been more pissed at that, if Scourge had been sneering the whole time he answered like in the other questions. But this one, that answer seemed a little personal.

"And your reasoning?"

"Heh," Scourge shook his head. "Why the fuck would I try to explain anything?" He asked while shrugging. "You know just as well as I do that all my intentions for everything that I've been doing up until now, has been for a very special purpose that you refuse to acknowledge." He stared deeply into Zonic's eyes. "You know what my answer is. You know what my answer's related to. All you're gonna do is cut me off 'cause your scared of Sonic-"

Zonic stood up and made a physical gesture for Zector to drag Scourge back in his cell. He was shooing him off. "Interrogation over." He began to turn his back, his colonel just watching agape as their leader just ordered for them to stop the interrogation right then and there.

Zhadow even ordered for everyone to leave, waving over for Sonic and Shadow to follow them through the elevator door just outside of the room. What in _hell_ was going on here?! Not even Zector and Zepsio knew what the hell was going on, and Zector didn't even try to take Scourge back into his cell. They both glanced at each other, questioning themselves. Should they go against their leader and ask to please reconsider? Or should they follow directions and stay blind and ignorant to what in Chaos' name was happening? And the funny thing about all of this?

Scourge was the one who was the angriest out of anyone here.

Scourge was the one who looked beyond pissed at Zonic's sudden decision. He was ten times more infuriated than Sonic was. He looked just as angry as he did when fighting Shadow back out in the war. He was irate. No, for someone who never took anything seriously just to make a face like that, something had to have been seriously wrong. Sonic was done, he couldn't take this shit anymore. They needed to truth and they needed it now! Sonic turned to Zonic's direction, marching over with a determined expression. He was going to reach his hand over and place it on his shoulder to stop him-

Suddenly, Scourge angrily scoffed. "Looks like someone's a little salty that their plans didn't work out, huh Zonic?" He used his real name this time. Everyone including the lieutenant generals paused. "You tried to poison me in that shit you call food last night, and this morning right before you all came in. Guess you wanted to try it twice just for good measure."

Sonic's mouth dropped slowly, while Shadow stepped beside him and gave a glare to the back of Zonic's head. "What is he talking about?" The ultimate life form ordered. "What the fuck is going on with you two!?" He yelled at them both.

The green hedgehog laughed darkly, the crocodile beside him still not daring to place his hands on him. "I may be weak in power and energy right now, but my regeneration ability returned right after you put me in this cell." He was sneering at him, a cross between a growl and a smirk. "You may have stopped it with that nice punch and that stupid ass control gauntlet of yours back out in the war, but you couldn't stop my abilities for long. That poison ain't do shit to me." He stood up from the chair, his hands pressing against the glass again. "You thought you'd come in to a dead body, and just call everything off. You wanted Sonic and Shadow to stay ignorant, you sneaky little bastard!"

Zhadow grunted. "Colonel Zector, restrain him immediately."

Slowly, Zespio turned to his partner, only to see the green fellow reptile gulp with sweat beading down his forehead.

He then dropped the taser and bowed quickly. "Forgive me for my insolence sirs," He began nervously. "But I refuse."

Suddenly, Zonic whipped his head at the crocodile. His awakened green eyes glowering ominously with both disappointment and hidden rage. "Oh? Insubordination...?" He addressed Zhadow without even turning to him. "My apologies first lieutenant, it seems I didn't discipline my men good enough."

The chameleon gaped at him. "Zector, do you have any idea what you're saying!?" He asked breathlessly. "You could lose your job!"

"I don't care!" Zector exclaimed. "Think about it Zespio," He said desperately as he stood up from his bowing position. "We've been working under Zonic for years once he became an elite, and he's always hid stuff from us." In the background, Shadow cocked a brow. Oh really? Looks like Sonic's intuition was absolutely correct. Along with him, the hero watched the two colonels make their cases. Zector continued. "We had been working here way before he came here out of no where, and yet even as just an elite, he was the one who was allowed to visit the psyche ward, participate in interrogations, and watch all the executions with both the Warden and the first lieutenant. Whenever we'd ask him about it, he wouldn't tell us a thing!" He tightened his frown and looked down shamefully. "Ever since that day in the psyche ward, the commander kept acting strange. More, secretive. Keeping things from us. Let's not forget," He rose his head to look Zespio dead in his golden eyes. "We were his best friends once. We weren't just his lackeys. And as his friends," He then turned his attention back to his superior. "He should have just been honest with us about everything. You keep hiding stuff from us, but now you've been caught." His fists shook anxiously. "I wanna know, I...I-I just want to know, sir." He tried being respectful one last time. "Please," He pleaded. "Just tell us what's going on."

A long pause.

With shaky eyes, Zespio watched his friend step away from Scourge completely. Giving him all the space and freedom he needed for now. The entire time, Scourge only listened and watched, and he wasn't smiling either. Zespio stared at his best friend, before turning to Sonic's twin who was now silent. The chameleon bit his lip, his knuckles turning white. He then gritted his teeth and moved to stand in front of the entrance leading to Scourge's cell. With courage building up in his chest, he made a soldier's position. His back straight, his eyes front with his arms at his sides. "My apologies for the lack of respect commander," He tightened his posture with shreds of self-assurance. "But as a true No Zone soldier, I was trained to stay loyal. Not just to my superiors," His eyes sharpened. "But to my comrades as well."

Steadily, Zonic swallowed hard and opened his mouth. "...Understood, colonel Zespio, colonel Zector." He said quietly.

The colonels blinked at that response.

He sighed and lowered his head. "Willing to lose everything you've ever worked for just to do the right thing," He cracked a small smile. "Even if it meant going against your boss, and your dear friend." He shook his head. "If only you two weren't such admirable soldiers, I could have gotten away with all of these lies." He chuckled a little. "It seems as if you were taught a little too well. Ironic. But sadly," He turned around completely, facing everyone's confused, nervous and angry expressions head on. With a sad smile and a lighter expression, he shook his head. "I care about you all too much. I can't let any of this information leak out, I am so sorry." He snapped his fingers.

Zhadow pressed his gloved fingers into his collar. "First Lieutenant General speaking. We've got a 10-98, cell number zero below." Both Sonic and Shadow' eyes widened. No, he wouldn't _dare_ do that to them! "Prisoner Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog is out of his cell and currently has Colonels Zector and Zespio hostage. His power has manipulated the two soldiers and they are now delirious." The two hedgehogs looked at each other, feeling their wavelengths correlate perfectly. They knew what they had to do. "This is a level five. I repeat, a level five-"

Black and blue streaks struck their visions.

Shadow pinned Zonic against the wall, and Sonic shoved Zhadow down onto the floor with his foot now resting against his back. They both grunted in pain, thrashing and shifting in their holds to try and get away, but they were both too strong for them. Sonic then bent down to Zhadow's waist and ripped off a spare transmitter from his belt. He held up the device up to his mouth and pressed his thumb in the button. He adjusted his vocal cords, clearing his throat as he took a page out of Scourge's book of faking and acting once again. "Second Lieutenant General speaking. False alarm, prisoner Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog is detained once more. My colonels are safe and sane, please carry on with your normal duties." He then took the device from his lips and swung it into the wall in front of them. It shattered on impact, scattering it's broken wired pieces onto the floor beside them.

The hero of Mobius pressed his foot in a little deeper into Zhadow's spine to keep him still, his quills raising as his cobalt chaos energy proudly revealed itself. Shadow was in the same boat, with his red energy radiating off of his black fur as he continuously pressed Zonic against the wall. His arms were pulled behind his back. The control bracelets they had on their wrists was now backfiring on both the lieutenant generals, since the primes could both use their power even in a chaotic weakening room.

"Now let's try this again..." Sonic trailed off with a cold tone.

Scourge's lips curled into a small grin, a few giggles leaving his body.

The two colonels watched, but didn't move a muscle to stop the primes.

"... _Without_ any interruptions this time."

* * *

 **END - 39**

 ***Once again reads every single review.***

 **Holy moly, you guys really gave me a lot of love this time. Dang, what can I say? I'm so flattered. (- ^_^ -)**

 **And also OHMYGOD** ** _Anonymoux-Sonic_ senpai reviewed my stooooorrryy! ****Also, I would totally love to do an RP with you sometime! So sorry I never got around to PMing you about it.**

 **...Ahem.**

 **Regardless, no one should be bullying anyone. I've no problems with defending any fellow author who has nothing but good intentions. We're all unofficial creators here, it's better to spread more love than hate.**

 **Anyways, so Zonic's a big fat liar, blah blah blah. HOWEVER, he is NOT the liar of the story. Well, not the _main_ one I keep hinting at anyway. That still remains to be seen. After all, there's so many levels of deception in this story, it's not even funny. You can't trust anybody it seems, you know? **

**By the way, be prepared to say goodbye to No Zone, 'cause it won't be long before we move onto the next stage for another grand performance! I wonder what'll happen, who knows? Until next time.**

 **(- ^_— -)/**


	45. What Did You Do?

**40 - What Did You Do?**

* * *

An orange fox held up a damaged piece of equipment with narrowed baby blue eyes. "Hopefully we can find something in here. Rouge said this was our best bet."

His voice echoed off the walls. His fingers lightly brushed across it's surface, feeling the small scratches and dents in it's parts. This was a piece attached to the rotor of GUN helicopter. After getting that call from Sonic on the anti-Omega's screen, he realized his big brother was right. Now that Scourge's power over their world was gone, they could get the hell out of here and move to a safer place. When the call ended, Tails asked for the robot to follow him out of the GUN commander's office and head up further to the heliport of the building. Rouge gave him instructions on where it was, and even reminded him to be careful. After all, they still weren't sure what was out there. That's why no one ever left that room to begin with, they weren't sure if it was safe to come out. They didn't know if they were still any GUN employees in the building, mind-controlled by Scourge.

However, since his power was down, they could take that chance.

It didn't take them long to reach the heliport, with decaying bodies and destroyed or damaged parts of aircrafts lying around. The robot would clear the kitsune's way by shoving these objects out of his view. There were some very dimmed ceiling lights around, but it was barely doing anything for them. Tails was still very uncomfortable that there were corpses just staring right at him, knowing that he could do nothing to help or save them before it was too late. He would always try to advert his eyes, keep his big brother's words in mind. He believed in him, he had faith in him. He had to get through and find a way out. Walking through the lengthy and insanely spacious heliport on the roof with the droid close by his side, he swallowed a lingering gulp.

Wanting to break the creepy and longing silence, Tails looked up at the cyan robot. "Hey," He said, wanting to gain it's attention. It moved it's head in his direction. "We wouldn't have been able to connect to the universal wifi without you, but how? And how did it bypass Scourge's control?"

A few beeps and vibrations before an actual response. "The anti-Sonic's power is great, but it cannot overwhelm the universal wifi. _Universal wifi_ is an enormously powerful wavelength that transcends through space and time among all realities of the universe, with No Zone being it's exclusive user. This is why you must obtain permission to use it before utilizing it to your disposal, as it is far too valuable to be tampered with by normal citizens."

Tails blinked curiously. "But, why? Is it because they're scared of it being hacked by somebody? And how is...wifi super powerful?"

"The universal wifi is not just 'wifi' as you Mobians call it. It is not easily hackable, and is extremely difficult to manipulate or even activate. It has a wavelength, not a satellite connection like most internet connections. A chaotic wavelength, to be more precise." It turned it's head forward with a few clicks. "Only very powerful and trusted members of No Zone can access it legally, but those with sinful abilities such as the anti-Sonic, was able to tamper with it. While he could not get rid of the universal wifi entirely, he was only able to manipulate small sources of it in No Zone. Thus, stopping Sonic prime from returning to your world via warp ring or simple chaos control, and even tampered with other equipment in No Zone's possession."

The fox stopped walking. "Wait," He said. "So you're saying Scourge couldn't even destroy the wifi himself? With all that power he stole?"

"Affirmative." The droid replied. "The universal wifi is a chaotic wavelength created by the beings who spawned Chaos Born into your world, and shaped your realities as they saw fit. This is why it is so powerful, and why it cannot be destroyed or easily reshaped." So that's why the robot was able to connect to No Zone despite Scourge's conquering their world. Scourge's power wasn't strong enough to block the universal wifi connection. That being said, Tails probably could have connected with No Zone and got to see Sonic a long time ago.

Still didn't explain why _this_ thing could access it, though.

Tails frowned as he continued to move forward. "So why are _you_ able to-" He stopped mid-sentence when he felt a shadow looming over him. The hangar was already dark enough without much light, as a lot of the electricity here either blew out or lost power. Beside him, some light flickered on. A flashlight. He looked over, and saw that the anti-Omega activated such a feat through it's eyes. "Huh." That was pretty handy. Tails was going to move on once again, until he followed the light. The robot wouldn't move, it was trying to show him something.

Just ahead of them around some rubbish and debris, was something tall and large. It seemed bigger than anything else here in the hangar. Tails walked closer to it to examine it carefully, the robot behind him following to push the boxes and rubble out of the way. Once he did, some dust drifted in the air. But as it settled down to clear his vision, Tails realized they found a grand master piece.

Tails' mouth slowly dropped as his blue eyes twinkled in glee.

That wasn't a plane, that wasn't a helicopter and it certainly wasn't a jet. That, was an illustrious-

"-A _VTOL!_ " The fox exclaimed with joy. His namesakes propelled happily as he launched himself up in the air to get a better look from up above. "Shine the light up here!" He told the droid. It did as he demanded, shining illumination onto the large sci-fi-like aircraft. It was beautiful.

A VOTL is a type of aircraft that can hover, take off, and land vertically. They were literally the coolest flying machines in the world, at least in Tails' eyes. And this was no normal VTOL either, Tails could tell from just a few glances that this thing was beyond advanced. It's wing span was overwhelming, reaching yards that would take some time to calculate. It's white coating was shiny for the most part, excluding a few smudged spots from all the damage that was wrought onto the building. It looked so advanced, it nearly made his own Tornado 2 look like child's play. Looks like he had to step his game up, GUN had nice tastes. Tails briefly looked around through the dark to see if he could spot any other huge shadows that might lead to another VTOL, but he remembered that GUN was a cheap ass 'military' base. Of course they'd only have one of these bad boys. They were both pricy to buy and engineer.

He landed back on the metal floor beside the robot and smiled confidently. That baby was a six-seater, and no doubt it was fast. He could fly up to Angel Island no problem with this. Alright, all he had to do was get this thing off the roof and out into the sky. He could fly by the windows to the chief's office and tell his friends to hop on. Tails turned to the anti-robot. "Think you could help me get this thing out of the hangar?"

It began to march towards the VTOL with hard stomps. "Correct." It replied.

Tails smirked. "Sweet."

It wouldn't matter if the VTOL was inoperable due to damages, Tails could easily find a way to fix it. When he and Sonic were children, he made a TV out of actual trash. He used a paperclip, a few random ass digital chips he found in a garbage can, some torn wires and the glass of an old computer monitor from the eighties. He's made plenty of other miracle inventions all his life with barely any tools, this wouldn't be a challenge. Besides, even if he had some trouble, he was positive this robot would help him along the way. He didn't know why, but it wanted Tails to succeed. He'd help him get whatever he needed to get this VTOL up and running again.

This would be a cakewalk!

* * *

Zonic grit his teeth and he desperately tried pulling his hands out of Shadow's grasp, but the more he pulled, the worse he made his position. Shadow only tightened his grip and yanked his limbs further, nearly breaking the commander's arm. He winced in pain, causing Zhadow from below to flinch. He was going to move, until Sonic stomped his heel into his spine. He grunted in agony and ceased his movements once more. "D-Don't..." The second lieutenant general begged his twin. "Sonic prime, please-Ngh..." He clenched his eye shut as Shadow shoved him further against the wall. "Don't h-hurt him, he has nothing to do with this-!"

"Shut up." Sonic instantly spat as a retort. "He's been helping you, he's been helping you hide your secrets this whole time!" He yelled. "You kept cutting me off, stopping me from asking certain questions that you _knew_ Scourge would have no problem answering." He craned his head to glare violently at his twin, his teeth fanged and sharpened. "Like he said, you wanted to save your asses by killing him off before we stepped in the room. You really poisoned him, didn't you?! If it wasn't for his abilities hopelessly returning to him before we showed up, we wouldn't get the answers we want." After a few seconds of silence with Zonic refusing to answer, he demanded for him to open his mouth. "You really tried _that_ hard to keep me ignorant? Answer me!" He hollered while digging his heel into Zhadow's back. The first lieutenant growled both in frustration and pain. Zonic opened his eyes fearfully, shifting in Shadow's hold once more.

"Stop!" He cried. "Stop hurting him!"

Sonic snarled. "Damn it, Zonic! Just do it! Just," He took his foot off of his back, placing it on the floor to walk over to both Shadow and the commander. "Tell me, come _on._ " His voice decreased it's volume, his conscience screaming at him to stop the violence. He didn't want to do this, he didn't want to hurt his friends. That's what thugs do, physically threatening people to get what they wanted. Sonic never wanted to resort to this, he truly didn't. "Stop making this hard for me, just tell me the truth!"

Zonic turned his face away. "I can't..."

"Yes you can."

"I can't...!"

The hero rose his voice again. "Zonic, I'm your fucking friend!"

Zonic shook his head rapidly. "I told you, _I cant'!_ I can't do it!"

"Why!?"

"Because if I tell you, everyone will-" Zonic cut himself off with a fearful gasp. He then tore his eyes away from Sonic, now darting them to the floor. As if a zipper glazed across his lips, he was suddenly silenced. Then, Zonic's body began to shift again. Only he wasn't trying to get out of Shadow's hold, his body was hunching. Almost as if he was going to puke. More like, he was trying to force something out of his mouth. Not vomit per say, but actual words. His mouth was twitching, his lips attempting to separate and move to form vocals.

He was even mumbling, but his lips refused to move. Like something glued or stitched his lips shut. It was as if he was trying to make them move, trying to force his mouth to speak. He looked panicked, he looked frightened. His mumbles became more frantic, and Shadow slowly let go with furrowed brows. Zonic's arms immediately went to his muzzle, grabbing at his mouth before just completely covering it in shame. He was even breathing a lot harder through his nose, making strong sniffs and inhales. Since his lips were closed, he couldn't breathe through his mouth right now. He looked guilty, he looked like he wanted to keep talking, but he couldn't and it was scaring him.

"Mmnffh...Mmmffh!" _Help me, help me!_ Was that what he was saying? "Mmmmffgh!" _I can't talk, I can't breathe!_

Something or _someone_ was making him keep his mouth shut.

Sonic and Shadow suddenly turned to Scourge, who didn't look too surprised. The green hedgehog just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I knew it, GOd I hate when I'm right." He said while sighing. He stepped back and pulled the chair back up to sit down again. "Those damn spirits, they put some kind of bind on him. I've read up on it before." He leaned back and crossed his legs. "It's almost like a magic spell, or a curse. If the spirits don't want you sayin' something, they'll literally zip up your lips anytime you try to bring it up." A silencing spell, is what it sounded like. "Now I don't know why they did that to step daddy Zonic over there, but I'm guessing they gave him an ultimatum in the past behind closed doors. 'Never speak of this again, and we don't hurt anybody. But to make sure you don't say anything, we're gonna seal your lips anyway whenever you ever bring it up.' Just a theory." He said with a shrug. "The deities are the types of bastards to pull something like that, I'm fairly certain that's what happened."

They slowly turned back to Zonic, who just resorted to sitting on the floor against the wall with his hands still covering his mouth. His head was lowered, his face not visible. He was still mumbling, still trying to talk again. Sonic never thought he'd see his twin look so frightened before, none of that was an act. That does it. Tails already tried warning him before about his own super forms, Zonic was hiding something, and now even Scourge was saying there was something wrong.

Sonic may not have been book smart, but he was no idiot. Like Shadow once said, he pondered about several things every second of the day, and that's why he was always a nervous wreck. He may have been a courageous hero to everyone else, but in reality, Sonic was an analyzer. He was a thinker, he was an observer. He listened, he watched, he calculated and he had an astounding memory. Every sentence, every word, every image he's ever seen, it was all stored in his brain. That's why he was able to remember every single discrepancy in Zonic's words, every odd sentence Scourge ever uttered from his mouth. He remembered Scourge's words back during the war...

* * *

 _"Blue, you still refuse to understand me." Scourge dropped his smirk and stepped in front of the blue doppleganger. He got down on one of his knees as well, and offered him a hand. "In the end, I don't want you to be some slave of mine. I want you to be willing. I don't want you to keep fighting me like this."_

 _"Stop messing with me, damn it. Just stop it! Stop screwing with my head!"_

 _With irritation, Scourge rolled his eyes. "I'm not. I'm just trying to-"_

 _"I don't care! SHUT UP!"_

 _"I know you don't care. No one did. That's why I'm still so fucked up. No one listens until it's too late. So I guess I can't be too mad at you," The anti hedgehog then glided his palm to the side of Sonic's muzzle, dragging the back of his fingers against his cheek affectionately and ever so softly. "But since you won't listen to me, then I can't accept your request to just 'stop'. You already had your chance to save me Blue, and you missed it..."_

* * *

 _What_ was Scourge trying to tell him? And not only that but-

Shadow's voice nearly interrupted his thinking process. "Sonic?"

Sonic instantly held up a hand without turning to his mate, gesturing for him to please silence himself as he continued to replay everything that led up to this moment so far.

Yes, there was that time in his office...

* * *

 _"No, Sonic prime. You know that just as well as I do. Besides, we wanted nothing to do with that demon anymore. After he escaped, he fell off the map. We had no idea where he was, and I couldn't find him in his own world from my monitors. It was like he disappeared. I have suspicions why, but nothing solid. We figured letting him go elsewhere and doing whatever he wanted was the best for our own home. We thought it was best just to deal with him later should he stir up trouble again. He wasn't your responsibility."_

 _"He may be your anti, but that doesn't matter. He wasn't your problem, he was ours. And now, you're both my responsibility. You always have been, and I wanted to protect you. I know I'm not there for you much, but I am now. And you may not ever realize it, but I've interfered with your previous battles multiple times, just to ensure your safety. I don't want you to get hurt, don't you understand that?"_

 _"You don't have to treat me like a kid. Hell, we're the same age, Z!"_

 _"And that may be true, but I don't care. Like I said, whether you like it or not, you're both my problems. And it's my goal to make sure he's detained, and that you and your world are safe."_

* * *

Zonic said he only wanted to keep Sonic safe but, that didn't sound right. At the time he just thought Zonic was just being overprotective, but now, maybe he didn't want Sonic here for a reason. And also, no matter how Zonic might have felt about Scourge, he was still his Overseer. An Overseer's job was to watch over _all_ versions of all Sonics, no matter what. Even if Scourge was a demented psychopath, his goal should never be to detain one of his own brethren. At the very least, he should have found a way to reform him or help him-Something! Not kill off one of their own kind with something as cruel as numerous executions, and Chaos knew what else. He was supposed to look after Scourge too, so why did he become this way in the first place? Zonic should have prevented that from happening.

Where was Zonic when Scourge turned this way? Where was he when he needed him?

Why wasn't he there for him like he was for Sonic?

* * *

 _"Oh Shadow prime, there's so many realities, I would need at least a full package of fresh copy paper to write down all the ones that I know of. There's even some that I have not yet visited. There are millions if not billions of Sonics, Shadows, Tails', Rouges...The list goes on and on." He then smiled. "But most of the realities that I've visited have good Sonics." He added warmly._

* * *

If there were millions of other Sonics out there, why was Scourge the only one making trouble? Zonic said _most_ of the other realities had good Sonics, not all. So why weren't the bad ones causing problems like this?

Why is it Scourge of all people doing so much damage?

And how about when Scourge got grabbed by Zonic and the other soldiers?

* * *

 _"Stop it! Get off of me! Get off! Get off, get off GET OFF OF ME!" Scourge screamed to the heavens, his voice having hints of both fear and trauma._

* * *

Yeah, that was right before the rocket hit him.

And speaking of which, why did it aim for Scourge's stomach? Not his head, not his face, but his stomach. That's an odd place to aim for.

Hey, didn't Scourge something weird to Shadow when they were fused?

* * *

 _"I'd almost rather you kick me in the balls a thousand times, before you punch me in my stomach."_

 _"Fuck...You.." Shadow weakly retorted. "As if I give a damn...about your personal rules of a street fight.."_

 _Scourge made a small laugh at that. "True, that does seem a bit ironic and hypocritical, only I don't give a shit." He hissed. "My tum-tum's a sensitive place, and I advise you to keep your hands away from it."_

 _"It's a fight you jack ass! The hell's so special...about your stomach anyway?"_

 _"None of your damn business," The young adult replied defensively. "Just stay away from it. If you hit me there again, I won't hesitate in killing all three of you for good. Would make my job easier anyway."_

* * *

Scourge made a big deal about it when they were fighting. Don't touch his stomach, period. But why? And why did that rocket aim and hit him there specifically? That was a little too coincidental. And right when it did, a red light blinded everyone. Like, that hit was severing some kind of connection from him.

Did...

Did Zonic order for the HQ to directly aim and shoot Scourge's stomach? How would he even know that was some kind of weak point for him? As their Overseer, Zonic should know everything about both him and his anti-double. That means it would actually be common sense for him to know their weaknesses, or their sources of energy. Like how Sonic's was in his neck, and how Scourge's was probably in his...

...Stomach.

And if he knew that much, he should know a bunch more. Such as his executions, why he was imprisoned, why he killed his dad, why coming out of prison seemed to have done him more harm than good. When Zonic gave a brief explanation of Scourge's history here in No Zone, Zonic didn't need to read off of paperwork. It was like he knew everything about him by heart. And if he knew that much about Scourge, he should know everything about Sonic, too. Especially about his super forms. One of the very things he wasn't allowed to speak of. If it was true that his super forms were keeping his twin from talking, well damn it, he'd make them stop this nonsense.

Suddenly, Sonic took in a deep breath before hollering to the heavens. "HEY!" He angrily screamed. "Whoever it is keeping Zonic silenced, quit it!" Sonic pointed his thumb to himself. "This is _your host_ talking, and _I'm_ the boss here!" The others in the room watched him curiously as he did this. "Super, Dark, Fleetway, Hyper-I don't give a damn who it is, but you better cut it the hell out right now!" Sonic then readied his voice once more, raising it highly with assertiveness. "I want to know the truth, I'm tired of all these lies and secrets! You want me to be satisfied?" He asked the divine spirits from above out loud. "You don't want me to be a problem, right? You don't want me to be a pain in the ass like Scourge over here, right?! Then you all better do what the hell I say, and lift that curse off of Zonic!" He pointed to the commander roughly. "Right NOW!"

As if the spirits heard and answered his demands, Zonic made a loud gasp of air.

He then sighed in relief, his mouth opening easily. He looked up at the ceiling, almost thanking the spirits for releasing their hold on him. He lost feeling in his legs, and dropped to the floor while panting. Sonic then marched away from them all, moving to Scourge's cell. He stopped in front of the glass, before holding his hand out and glaring directly at Zector. "Give me that lie detector bracelet." The crocodile flinched at his tone, but nodded and moved over to remove the shackle from Scourge's wrist. After doing so, he gave it to Sonic, who swiped it away and traveled back over to Zonic.

Shadow moved aside, who watched as his mate walked behind Zonic and bent down. He yanked his arm back and snapped the bracelet onto his wrist. He let his arm go and stood up to move back in front of him. He crossed his arms and gave Zonic a deathly glower, who refused to face his champion.

"So," The hero quietly began. "Wanna explain what the hell he's talking about over there?"

Shadow winced at his tone and cleared his throat. Ouch. Zonic just scoffed and continued looking away from him. "Sonic prime-"

"A straight forward God damn answer is all I'm asking for, Z." A growl was developing in his throat. "I just told them to take their control off of you. You've got no excuse to keep playing this game with me!" After he yelled this, Zonic still wouldn't budge. Sonic's forehead began fuming red, but he silently bit his tongue. Without turning to Shadow, he asked for him to do him a favor. "Shads," He whispered in an unusually scary voice. "Do me a solid and beat the shit out of Zhadow for me?" He tilted his head. "Please? For me?"

Shadow's eyes widened, and so did Zonic's. Scourge watched with amusement, while the two colonels flinched at barbaric the request.

The green hedgehog started giggling under his breath. "So this is what happens when you piss off the Champion. Looks like it's just another part of your plan that went haywire, huh step daddy?" He mocked.

Zhadow stiffened, but didn't move. "...Sonic?" Shadow muttered his name in confusion. Brutality was _not_ his lover's style, what was going on with him? He didn't sense Dark influencing him, no, this was all on his own volition. What was he thinking? Was he willing to force the truth out of them that bad? Suddenly, that's when Sonic glanced at him. He could feel it in his wavelength, his intentions weren't true. He didn't actually want Shadow to hurt anyone, but he did want to scare Zonic. Now he understood what Sonic meant. He slowly nodded and turned to Zhadow's direction. "I see, of course." He even charged some chaos energy in his hand to make it believable. "This is nothing personal, first lieutenant-"

Zonic immediately ceased his vow of silence. "NO! Stop, please! I'll talk! Just get away from him!" He cried. He clenched his teeth, he was in a horrible spot right now. He lowered his head back down pathetically. "I'll...tell you...everything..."

Sonic silently commended Shadow for his work, before placing his hands on his hips. "Good. Yo," He turned to the side in Scourge's direction over in his cell. "Feel free to add whatever you want." He looked back to Zonic. "At this point, I don't care what happens, I just want to know everything. Sadly, Scourge is the only person who'll have no problem telling me the truth. I'm bein' nice here, Z."

"...Understood." His twin murmured.

"Question one," The hero began. "Why can you use chaos?"

Zonic looked immediately stumped. Then he began to look anxious due to Sonic's dissatisfaction of his lack of answers. "I-I, I don't know. I promise, I truly do not know. I was under the impression that no Overseer in history could ever use chaos like regular Chaos Born. And I don't know why I can suddenly use it now." He fidgeted when Sonic nudged Shadow to go back over to his first lieutenant again. "W-Wait! I'm serious, I truly don't know!"

After exclaiming this, they paused. That bracelet did not emit a beeping sound to indicate a lie. Zonic told the truth. That's when Scourge suddenly gave his two cents. "Actually, if I may Blue?" He playfully cleared his throat while placing his glasses on the tip of his nose. "Ahem. You see," He made sure to use his 'teacher' voice for this. "Commander Zonic always had chaotic power. Overseers are supposed to have them, but only to maintain the universal wifi since it requires chaos power to activate. However, they are _not_ to be used any further, as the spirits do not want them becoming too powerful for their own good." He slyly smirked and pulled down his glasses, dropping his teacher act. "They'd be repeating the mistakes of _our old original ancestor_ , a usurper who tried murdering those divine assholes several thousand years ago. The first Chaos Born, an idiot Icarus who flew a little too close to the sun." He shrugged. "But I digress. I betcha Zonic never used his powers to turn on the wifi until just yesterday, since it's been going on and off on it's own thanks to me and Fleetway. Other than that, it's always stayed on for decades before we showed up, so Zonic never had to awaken his abilities in the first place until now. Still, the fact that Zonic's are a lot stronger than they should be is a bit alarming. No Overseer was able to use that much, not that they should. Definitely put a stain in my plans."

Sonic tightened his scowl at Zonic. Alright, he had to let this one slide. Zonic truly didn't know about any of that, and he was never needed to awaken his abilities in the first place. It's no wonder he never knew he could have them at all, no one told him about this. The Warden probably didn't even want him to know, assuming he already knew only Overseers could activate it. But still, didn't Zonic used to study his ass off about stuff like this? Why didn't he know about this? And that still didn't explain why he was able to use so much as only an Overseer. "How come you didn't know you had chaos abilities at all? Scourge said all Overseers are supposed to have it, just not as much as you do. And why _are_ your powers so strong? You special or something?"

Zonic sighed and hugged himself while leaning against the wall. "With all the work piling for No Zone, I...I neglected my studies. Because of that, there are plenty of things I do not know. At least, not as well as I should. Only a little more than the basics. I do not know why I can use them so well." He made a disappointed expression at himself.

"Now hold on there step daddy," Scourge held up a finger with a sneer. "Just 'cause ya got powers now, don't make you special. Being a 'chosen one of chaos', doesn't make you special at all. That's a stupid ass concept." He directed his attention to Sonic. "The only reason why Zonic managed to awaken his abilities is because those evil divine beings _wanted_ him to. All in order to power up the remaining Chaos Born, so they can all get ready to conquer their worlds after our nineteenth birthday arrived. Zonic here's only a drinking well for you." He chuckled at their alarmed expressions. "Durr, that's what any Overseer's for. To help out their brethren, make sure they're satisfied. Right? So, it's only fair that you supply your own kind with the power they need to handle their duties." He pointed to the hero then to Shadow. "Let's say Stripes over there gets amnesia for the thousandth time and starts fightin' Blue all over again. And let's say Blue's too weak to activate a super form." He cupped his cheeks adorably with a cute smile. "Weeelll, guess what Zonic can do for ya, my cutesy-Sonikuu-whootsie?"

A pulsating vein began to form in Sonic's head. "...Are you telling me he could have gave us back our super forms this whole time...?" He hissed.

Scourge nodded. "Yup, yup! And that's something he already knew about too, he just never told you. Even if Zonic didn't have powers before, _there was another way_ of helping you get your super forms back _before_ the war." He crossed his legs with boredom as he lectured them. "Look, the universal wifi is a big fuckin' deal, and it's like, super duper powerful. It might as well be another source of chaos energy from another Chaos Born. That's how crazy strong it is. That alone could have allowed Zonic to get personal contact with your super forms, using it like a damn beacon that only an Overseer can activate. And it would have helped you regain all that power back. But I _knew_ he wouldn't do it 'cause he was scared of 'em coming out." He hummed to himself while innocently poking his finger on his lip. "Huh, I guess that doesn't technically count as a lie, does it step daddy?" He asked with daunting pursed lips.

Zonic began to sweat, swallowing a gulp as he tried to remain calm. "H...How do you even know that!? How do you know how far I've gotten in my studies?"

"'Cause' if you fuckin' finished 'em like you were supposed to, which is your actual damn job mind you, you wouldn't have made so many mistakes in this whole ordeal." The green hedgehog harshly scolded him. "Shit, you could have killed me when ya had the chance, because you would have known exactly what to do to get rid of me. If you knew as much as I do, I don't think I would be so fucked up right now. And you wouldn't be crazy, neither. Hell," Scourge laughed loudly while slapping his knee. "Hahaha! I planned my whole scheme around _your ignorance,_ you idiot! Hahahaha!" He cackled. "I could tell from the way you worked so hard to climb your pathetic ass up the ranks. Way back when I was in that shitty ass asylum, you never paid your studies any attention! I knew you didn't know as much as you were supposed to! The only reason why I succeeded this far is because you're such a shitty-ass Overseer, dumb ass!"

Zonic bit his bottom lip, clenching his eyes shut as he didn't want to hear this.

"And with your new fuck toy over here, your superior gladly kept all the juicy details away from everybody. You kept giving him that cute little blue ass of yours to fuck over and over, and he lapped it up like milk. You played him like a puppet, making him hide everything and protect you from any heat that could have burned you in your way." Scourge steadily turned his gaze to Zhadow, who looked away in shame. "You stayed in that No Zone fantasy just a little bit longer, Zhadow. You're nothin' but an enabler, a pawn. A chump. A side-character for the protagonist." He turned away from him in disgust. "Tch, like these assholes are your people or something. You make me sick, Zonic." He spat bitterly. "And that, my poorly deluded commander, is why I fucking hate you. You don't stick up for your own kind, you defend bastards who don't even realize how powerful we are. Just, ugh..." He sighed. "Like, you're such a bore. A moronic failure."

Sonic then narrowed his disparaging eyes down at his twin. "All that true, Z?" The commander slowly nodded without words. This made Sonic raise a brow with a false smile of interest. "Oho yeah? Even that other part? The part where you don't defend the very race you were assigned to protect?"

With a dried out voice, Zonic replied softly. "Yes." His bracelet didn't beep.

"And the part about my super forms wanting to conquer my world? About them being evil? That's all true too?"

With his body now slightly shaking, Zonic nodded once more. "...Yes, Sonic prime."

The ultimate life form's eyes widened. They were all evil? Sonic's super forms were the bad guys this whole time?

Shadow then saw that Sonic's arm was reeling back. "And you knew about that too? This whole _fucking_ time?" The hero asked in a callous whisper.

"Yes-"

Sonic swung. "You _mother fucker...!_ " The ultimate life form quickly grasped his mate's arm before he could swing his fist down. He then pulled him back, whispering to him that he couldn't just beat on him like this. This was wrong, no matter how pissed the hero was. They'd be stooping to Scourge's level, to Shadow's old ways. If this was the old him, _he_ would have been the one wailing on Zonic right now. But, they both were better than that. With Sonic's feral sharpened fangs poking out of his mouth, he growled and settled his arm down. "You let them play me, this _whole_ time." His fist tightened, but Shadow wouldn't let go. "How could you!?" He yelled. "Why would you ever let this happen!?

Zonic buried his face in his hands, his knees bending up to his chest. "...Can I please say something now?" He carefully whispered in a shaky voice.

"Oh go right ahead, you liar." Sonic spat.

His twin tried his best to ignore the insult, and began to explain his ways. "No matter what happens, nothing will change the fact that I'm still your Overseer," He began to move to stand up on his own. He uncovered his face and tried to remain professional in front of his champion. "I understand your rage, but you still need to respect me." He suddenly stated in a stern manner, his eyes seriously gazing into the hero's to show that he was being completely legit right now. No tricks.

"As if I'm scared of _you._ " Sonic darkly scoffed.

"I don't want you to fear me!" Zonic yelled back. "I just want you to understand, that I was only trying to keep you safe!" He glanced at Shadow. "All of you! I didn't have a choice!"

"Ha," The speed demon's shoulder shook as he snickered. "Right, like how you tried keeping Scourge safe in those execution videos? You didn't have a choice then, either?"

The commander's face instantly went pale, before flattening his lips. "..."

"Yeah," Sonic challenged. "How 'bout you explain _that_ bullshit? What kind of 'man of honor', a war hero like you, allows people to torture and kill inmates over and over again?" His voice rose once again. "What happened to outlawing police brutality? What happened to being morally fair? To being a real soldier? What were the executions for, and why did you let Scourge get hurt so much? Are _you_ the reason why he's like this? Why did you fail him as his Overseer!?"

Scourge rubbed his fingers against the sides of his own chair, mentally whispering for Fleetway to do him a favor. Zonic was still tight-lipped, he wouldn't sing thanks to his overwhelming guilt and despair. As angry as Sonic was right now, he would only yell and holler at him some more to attempt at getting something out of him. No, the only way to make Zonic speak the complete truth was through force. Sonic didn't actually have the balls to beat his twin to a bloody pulp just to get answers, and scaring Zonic into talking would work but so much.

No, Scourge had a better way.

The green hedgehog stood up from his chair and carelessly kicked it over. Zector flinched and looked his way, realizing that he no longer was sitting submissively like he was supposed to. He had to take the prisoner down before he did anything reckless. Before Zector could reach out to grab him, Scourge held up a hand to stop him. "Hold on there, bucko." He said while his blue eyes became red swirls. "I'm not gonna do anything crazy."

The crocodile backed away in fear at this. "No way," He murmured. "T-That's impossible, how can you use your powers in a room like this? You don't have a control bracelet-" The green hedgehog suddenly placed a finger upon his scaled lips with a hush.

"Shh shh, just be cool. I don't wanna hurt anybody, seriously." He genuinely gave him the benefit of the doubt. "I mean come on, you honestly think I can tussle with both Blue and Stripes in the room with their super forms back online? I wouldn't risk that." In actuality, Scourge could take both Shadow and Sonic in their super forms if he used all of his power at once, but nobody had time for that right now. Not yet, that was for the grand finale. For now, he just wanted to get his point across. "I just wanna show you what Zonic's hiding." He glanced over at the hedgehogs over on the other side of the room and raised his voice so they could hear him over Sonic's yelling. "Hey! All of you, come closer so I can look at ya."

Sonic and Shadow briefly turned to the side, seeing Scourge's eyes swirling red. Everyone was instantly on their guard when he brought attention to himself, but Scourge once again tried settling them down. Stating he didn't mean any harm, he only wanted to reveal Zonic's secrets.

"Calm down, just lemme show ya. I wanna put you in his head, I wanna show you his exact memories!" He raised his hands up, red and black aura surrounding his arms. "Alright Fleetway, let's give it everything we've got!" He announced with a smile. "I've got a very special surprise for step daddy Zonic, the Supreme Overseer of all Chaotic Life in the universe. A punishment truly fitting for a failed soldier, the memories of a cowardly private now revealed to all! _**Iiiiit's** **Flashback Tiiiime!**_ "

In another red flash, everything went white.

* * *

 **END - 40**

 **EDIT: So sorry for my absence, I...**

 **Sigh.**

 **Nothing worth talking about, nothing but excuses.**

 **This chapter was ready for weeks, I was just being lazy is all. Anyway, some people are probably gonna be pissed at Zonic now. And to that I say: Good. You _should_ be. Like Shadow said, intentions mean jack shit. What truly matters, is what you have done. And Zonic, has done some bad things by lying. His reasons? Well like I said before, words mean nothing, and intentions are also worthless at the end of the day if you did something heinous.**

 **However...**

 **Well, I won't say anything.**

 **Dunno if I'll be posting before or immediately after Christmas. Until the next update, please be patient.**

 **Hopefully I won't have you waiting so long like this again, because the next few chapters' are gonna be hellah heavy.**

 **And that's something you _don't_ wanna miss.**


	46. IT'S HIM

**41 - IT'S HIM**

* * *

Sonic blinked several times at the white space.

Shadow blinked several times at the white space.

Zhadow blinked several times at the white space.

Zector blinked several times at the white space.

Zepsio blinked several times at the...

...Why is this repeating?

...

Where, were they?

 _"Behold peasants!"_ A booming voice echoed to their brains, yet they couldn't see where it was coming from. _"This, is the mind of your precious commander. The buried memories of Zonic's fragile sanity. Now watch with exuberance, gaze upon the horridly disorder that is his deception! Hohoho!"_ The familiar voice laughed. _"Just watch..."_

It was starting to fade away.

 _"...As he became **one of the sole reasons as to why I became so fucked up.** "_

* * *

 _ **Four years ago, in the Asylum of No Zone HQ**_

 _Damn he was such a screw up. He messed up another report, there were way too many grammar mistakes. Damn it, he'd have to fix it later. He couldn't give it to his superiors like this. He should have let that asshole Zhadow read it over like he advised. He warned him not to be overconfident, that it could cause a mistake. But Zonic didn't listen, he thought he could do it himself. A sigh, he should have just accepted the help. Besides, he was his apprentice at this point, it was his job to overlook his stuff. He really needed to stop being so stubborn._

 _Oh well. On the bright side, he wouldn't have to be bothered with police duties today. He could always hand in his report tomorrow. For now, he had something else he was interested in doing. Zonic was never cut out for the physical combat duties of a true No Zone solider, and it was never his purpose anyway. But since his ancestors wanted him to be here so he could have protection of the No Zone military, might as well take advantage of living here. So, instead of wasting his time doing line-ups or patrols, he settled on something different. Something he'd be working on for the next year. It was funny, Zhadow suggested he do this, but it actually sounded like a nice idea._

 _Being an inmate counselor._

 _No, he wouldn't be doing as much stuff as miss Zouge. After all, she was a professional who attended multiple prisoners in the building. Zonic wouldn't be doing that, and he'd only be attending one prisoner for the next twelve months. He was only a low-level private, and he didn't have any medical or psychological intelligence. But, there was one thing he was that no one else could be, and that was being an Overseer._

 _A Grand Overseer's job was to look over beings called Chaos Born. Basically, they had to make sure they were kept alive, prevent them from dying in unnatural circumstances, assist them in any rational task they may need their assistance in, and keep them safe and satisfied. Both physically, mentally and emotionally. He was the Big Brother of all Chaos Born, as it was his job to watch and look over them every single day to make sure nothing in the universe was out of balance. Today, he'd be meeting one of those Chaos Born, one of the very people he's supposed to watch over._

 _He was pretty nervous about this. Almost like an internship, Zonic was granted the ability to visit and talk with the Chaos Born that was now rotting in one of their prison cells. Why? Well, apparently they did something very horrible and landed themselves in the asylum ward of the underground prison. Zonic has seen this Chaos Born before through his monitors in the Room of Realities, but as far as he was concerned, the Chaos Born was doing fine up until now._

 _The Chaos Born's name was **Prince Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog**_ _, heir to the throne of the main monarchy of Moebius. Apparently, he used to have siblings, but there was some kind of tragic accident that killed them both off. A sister and a brother, now dead. Thus making him the only one left to be the hair to the family crown. The only son left, the only child. His mother fell to an incurable mental disease, and ultimately killed herself. His father, no one knew about. Through his time of watching over Moebius, Zonic saw that the prince was actually doing a fine job at ruling and making their people happy. But, a lot of weird things didn't seem right within the world._

 _For one, the king, **King Jules of Moebius** , his father, never showed himself outside of the castle. It was as if the entire burden of ruling landed on the heir, the very person who was next in line to rule even though that was never supposed to be their responsibility yet. It was like he just sat in the castle and did nothing while his son did all the heavy lifting. The world of Moebius was also a very violent and terrible place to live in, but the prince turned everything around by suggesting something called The Great Peace. With some help from a local warm-hearted doctor, Dr. Kintobor, they helped turn everyone's lives around._

 _Soon, Moebius became the nicest place in the universe to live in._

 _...And then, **The Tragedy** happened._

 _The Tragedy, was the most vile and horrendous event in Moebian history that occurred only months after The Great Peace's success. Nobody knows what happened exactly, but something devastating occurred for the world to spiral into a blood-soaked planet of mass genocide. Apparently, widespread panic and rioting happened only moments after the revelation of their king being mysteriously murdered got out. Then, rumor has it that the prince went rogue and began the mass killings himself, convincing his entire kingdom to destroy everything and each other. First their kingdom fell, and the rest of the world turned to rot soon afterwards. Zonic had no choice but to alert the Warden, begging him to send out reinforcements to stop the prince and arrest him._

 _Strangely, he went without a fight, and even asked them to execute him the second his trial was over with. After his trial had finished, the Warden was indeed going to execute him, but he for some odd reason changed his mind at the flip of a coin. They then ruled his sentence to an eternity in the No Zone Asylum, prisoner number seventeen._

 _Technically, it was Zonic's fault he was in the asylum. He didn't make sure his mental state was in check, he could have prevented him from hurting others. If he was forced to rot here in this prison forever, the least he could do as his Overseer is make sure his state of mind wasn't crumbling. There was still a lot he didn't know or understand despite keeping tabs on Moebius responsibly, but he still needed to do his duty even with past failures. So with permission from the Warden himself, he walked down the asylum himself and made his way to the former prince's cell._

 _The polished white corridors were empty, with white doors and barred windows greeting him with every step he took._ _Numbers were printed on every single door in black._ _It was so quiet here, so white. Like nothing was here. No windows, no sunshine anywhere. Number fifteen, sixteen-Ah! Seventeen. Zonic stopped in front of the door, and looked over at the small black screen beside the door. He placed his hand on it, letting it scan his prints to allow him access inside. It beeped green, the door slowly sliding open to let Zonic in._

 _Before he stepped inside..._

 _...He felt this, strange overwhelming feeling of fear._

 _He, he didn't know why but, he felt fear. Why fear? Why, why was he afraid? Was he afraid of the inmate? Afraid of the Chaos Born? What was he thinking? Ugh. He slapped his cheeks and shook his head. How was he supposed to be a No Zone soldier if he kept acting like a coward? No, he had to move forward. He straightened his posture and frowned with determination. He stepped inside the room, the white door behind him slowly shutting close._

 _It was really dark in here. The windows in this room was barred shut too, small peaks of sunlight were just barely shining through. There was a small table with two chairs sitting beside it. On the far right, was a soft white bed. Someone sat on the edge of it, rocking themselves back and forth. A white straight jacket was binding his torso as he mumbled to himself. He kept repeating to himself, "I had to do it, I had to do it, I had to do it...I had to...I had to...I..."_

 _Zonic carefully weighed his situation out. This was a mental patient, who was his sole responsibility. They did some bad things, and they were insane. He had to tread cautiously with him around. He didn't want to upset him. He could easily call Zhadow with his transmitter on his hip at any time if there was trouble. So, Zonic cleared his throat to get the prince's attention._

 _"...!" They flinched, and hesitantly turned to Zonic's direction. "..."_

 _He made an unsure smile back to him. Wow, he looked just like him. Blue fur, and green eyes. But, he looked a mess. His quills were snipped short so he couldn't use them as an attack. There were scars on his face, among other places on his body. Fur unkept, eyes bloodshot and shrunken, and his body was very skinny. He was probably starving himself, as he was told before coming here that he constantly kept refusing to eat or sleep. Maybe he could change that, this was his job after all. "Um," How should he begin? "H...Hi there." He gradually walked over to the table on the other side of the room, and pulled up a chair to sit down. This way, he gave him space. He wouldn't need to fear him if he was all the way over here. "Your name, your name is Ogilvie, right?"_

 _The empty-looking hedgehog nodded in return, sharing a small uncertain gaze with Zonic._

 _"My name is Zonic, I'm your Overseer. Ah," He almost forgot that most Chaos Born are not aware of their Overseers, as it is not required knowledge for them. Some Chaos Born go through their entire lives without knowing who their Overseers are, what they are, or ever meeting them. Making acquaintances is not their job. All they needed to do is protect them, not bond with them. But, things were different in this case. "You don't know what that is, do you?"_

 _A small swallow of anxiety left the rocking hedgehog on the bed. Slowly, the rocking came to a halt. "..." His lips twitched. How long has it been since he's talked to anyone? It's been a couple of months since his sentencing, he must have stayed to himself this entire time._

 _Zonic wanted to make sure he knew he was safe around him. He wouldn't hurt him. "Hey, it's alright." He said gently with a small smile. "I won't hurt you, you can tell me any-"_

 _"Supreme Overseers, the sole guardians and protectors of all Chaos Born. That is your sworn duty, your purpose." The former prince whispered._

 _With some shock, Zonic blinked a couple times. He knew more than he realized, odd. "O-Oh. So you already know about us. How come?"_

 _The former prince licked his lips before moving his head to stare at the wall. "...The Chaos Born in Moebius, know everything. We know about our purpose, your purpose, and anything that has to do with the Divine Ones. We have books all about our history."_

 _Interesting, they studied just like Zonic did. "I see, so you're all pretty knowledgable."_

 _"Knowledge is what made me do it." He suddenly whispered. "I should have stayed ignorant, I should have kept my eyes closed, stay blind to it all..." His body trembled violently. "But now I know everything, and I can't look away...There's no going back, no turning back on reality..." The private became alarmed as his own brethren before him began repeating those same words again. "That's why I had to do it...I had to do it..."_

 _In an almost frightened tone, Zonic gently asked what in the world was he talking about. "I-I don't understand, what did you do?"_

 _The prince's eyes shook. "..."_

 _With that silence, Zonic put two and two together. He remembered what this person was arrested for. He murdered people and caused others to engulf the world in destruction. He didn't outright say it or confess, but he didn't have to. He could feel he was ultimately responsible for everything that's happened to his world. But, why? What made him do such horrible things?_

 _With a frown, Zonic tried to get more answers out of him. "Why did you do it?"_

 _"Because," Ogilvie murmured. "They were going to make me, torture them. Make them my slaves, our slaves. Make me rule, everything and everyone. They were all doomed, all doomed...I just wanted to save them, I just wanted to be like_ him _..."_

 _Like, him? Who was 'him'? "Who?" Zonic asked._

 _"You should know him," Said the killer monarch. "The other blue one who looks like us, the perfect one." He scowled. "The most powerful one, the most important one there is."_

 _The most important? Zonic wanted to think that no life of one Chaos Born was more valuable than another, but his ancestors did advise him to keep an extra careful eye on one particular Chaos Born. He was right, he looked just like them. And yes, he was important and was destined to be God-like. He was to protect that one with his very life, the future Champion of All Realities. At first, Zonic noticed Sonic never wanted to be a hero when he was a child, it just happened. He was only just learning to be happy with the fact that he was one._

 _After all, being a hero was not his purpose._

 _As for Ogilvie, it was not his purpose to be a hero either. Nor was it to be a criminal, this was all just an unfortunate turn of events. His purpose was to be a Chaos Born monarch and to do his duty, that's all. But from what it sounded like, him learning about Chaos Born and knowing the truth about his true purpose really screwed him up. But why this bad? A Chaos Born's true duty is to rule over their designated planet or reality, dictate anything inhabiting it like livestock and reproduce for the next generation. It was their purpose, just a way of life. What was so wrong with that? Who wouldn't want to have that kind of power? Zonic wished he could have that level of authority. No one would look down upon him, but he was just some Overseer who had to be hidden._

 _He was nothing compared to them._

 _With a small smile, Zonic chuckled. "Being a hero wasn't his role, I'm sure you know that much. Neither is yours, or mine. I'm only here to make sure you guys are okay, and you all only exist to keep pushing our bloodline forward. And you even get to rule at the top of the food chain above anyone else, so what's the problem?" The private shrugged. "I say embrace that role. After all, it's not like you'll stay here for long anyway. You're too important to be imprisoned." He tried reassuring the former prince. "I'm sure the deities will just do a quick little reboot to your world and give you your kingdom back like nothing ever happened-"_

 _Ogilvie screamed._

 _"STOP IT!"_

 _Zonic's eyes widened, his mouth silenced. "...!?"_

 _"Y-You..." He shivered while pushing himself against the wall. "Y-You're just like the rest of them...You're heartless. How dare you? Acting like tyrants is not okay!" He exclaimed. "We're not Gods! We don't have the right to dictate people's lives like that, it isn't fair! Why should I be in power, hurting innocent people!? Do you have any idea how warped our race is? Do you? Or are you just too closed-minded to see that!? You monster!"_

 _The private didn't know what to say to that. He, didn't understand the outrage. He thought this was_ normal. _He truly thought thinking like this, was normal. For one, Zonic wasn't even meant to have emotions. It was quite easier to do his job as an Overseer by being, well, for lack of a better term, 'heartless'. He was raised not to waste his time with emotions or the well-fair of anything other than his Chaotic brethren. He was already failing that job by finding admiration in Sonic and now pity for Ogilvie, but he thought he could still operate his job being emotionless to anyone or anything else._

 _But, this was...Wrong?_

 _Ogilvie continued to rant. "You're a private aren't you? Didn't they teach you to care about other people's lives if you're going to save them like a solider?"_

 _Sure but, that wasn't Zonic's intentions for being here at all. "You misunderstand my purpose here. I am only being trained as a soldier so I can physically protect one of you if you're in danger. And I am only seeking to gain more power in this world on my own so I can have the dominance to use this world's military to my disposal, all for your sakes. Everything I'm doing is for you all." He tried smiling again. "Eventually, I'll be strong enough to become the General and the Warden. That way, I'll be able to keep you all safe for as long as I live. All I'd have to do next is find a mate to repro-"_

 _"Disgusting."_

 _"I...W-What?" Zonic stammered while blinking._

 _The prince growled as he glowered angrily towards Zonic. "You are nothing but their toy, another one of their puppets. And you talk so casually, using these innocent people like your playthings just to further your own agenda. For a race of monsters." His green eyes were jade fires of hell itself. "You call yourself our big brother, and yet you've already failed one of us by giving too much attention to another. I am now nothing but a shell of my former self, a broken toy who realized the truth. My madness was my punishment, but you? No, you wish to stay stupid so they can't hurt you, isn't that right?" Then, after he said that, his eyes slowly dilated. "No, it's worse. You know exactly what's going on. You just don't see anything wrong with it. You're the twisted one."_

 _This Chaos Born, Ogilvie was broken._

 _"If you watched mass genocide right in front of you, would you step in to stop it? Even if it wasn't our own?"_

 _Zonic hesitated before answering. "Well, that's currently my job in this world so-"_

 _"I didn't ask you that, so I'll repeat it again." He retorted roughly. "If you watched, mass genocide happening right before your eyes, would you stop it? Not as a No Zone soldier, or an Overseer, just as a normal being."  
_

 _"I...No." Zonic answered with a flimsy tone. "It is not my job to protect others, I must only protect and manage all of you."_

 _The mad prince suddenly cackled. "Hahaha, treating us like packages. You vile creature." He insulted. "So, you wouldn't save a defenseless normal child? Maybe a pregnant woman? An infant? An elderly man with brittle bones? You'd just let them all become slaves to our every whim, letting us toy with their lives as we pleased? Letting the deities kill them whenever they wished to 'reboot'?"_

 _Okay, he probably wouldn't just let a child die. Or a pregnant woman, or an old man. Even if it wasn't a Chaos Born but... "N-No, I-"_

 _"Ah? What was that? Going against your 'purpose'?"_

 _Zonic stood up and stomped his foot. "Please, that is enough!" He ordered. From then on, Ogilvie closed his lips. Zonic's words became even more frail. "I, I don't quite comprehend it myself. But please understand, this is all I know. All I was raised to acknowledge. I was to obey any order the deities or Chaos Born gave me, no matter what it was. I only live to serve and protect you, but," He sadly frowned and closed his eyes. "You are right, I did fail you. I did give my attention to the Champion, so I neglected the rest of you. But it seems you're the one who paid the ultimate price, and I am so sorry for that." He opened his eyes to the prisoner tucked against the wall of the bed on the other side of the room. "I don't know why you know so much information, but it doesn't matter. You can't act like this, you need to do what the deities say. After all," He attempted to survey his situation. "You don't want them to kill you, right?"_

 _"Yes!" The prince suddenly said with a grin._

 _He was, he was smiling...?_

 _"I want nothing more than death itself, that way I can't reproduce and repeat this all over again. If I'm sent back to my world, they'll make it so that everyone loves me regardless of anything I do. They'll make them forget all the atrocities I committed. I don't want that, I don't want them to be my slaves! I don't any of this! I don't want to be a Chaos Born, I want to die!" He pushed himself off of the bed and limped in Zonic's direction. "Kill me, kill me!" He said with a steadily widening smile. "An execution, an execution! I'm sure you can kill me, I'm an inmate anyway. I deserve the death penalty, I caused thousands if not millions of deaths! I've failed so many times at ending my life, but maybe I was doing something wrong. You do it!"_

 _Zonic found himself shaking his head without words._

 _"Please, end my life already! I'm disobedient, I'm a rebel, just like **the first Chaos Born**! END MY LIFE!" He hollered with glee. "GIVE ME FREEDOM!"_

 _"..."_

 _What in the world could the private say to something like that?_

* * *

 _The Warden happily obliged in attempting at killing the prince off._

Attempted _being the operative word._

 _...They tried everything._

 _Burning alive, decapitation, stabbing, gunned down, mutilation and dismemberment, crushing, electrocution, being hit by a No Zone police van, strangulation, lethal injections, bludgeoned to death, pushed from large heights, drowning, air pollution, gassing, and not even his own malnutrition was killing him._

 _He just, wouldn't die._

 _Zobotnik got so frustrated, he just tossed the prince back in his cell. Zonic had witnessed every single failed attempt with horror growing in his heart every single time. He had never witnessed death before, but what he saw was torture. True, utter torture, from someone who begged to die. He couldn't even get that satisfaction. But he knew why, the deities wouldn't let him die without reproducing yet. The prince was stuck in limbo, until he obeyed them. All that pain, he just endured it all because he thought he was guaranteed the freedom of death. But he couldn't have that luxury. Perhaps that was his ultimate punishment for rebelling._

 _In three days of straight execution attempts, Zonic visited him alone, again._

 _He looked so depressed, he looked so drained. He didn't want this, he didn't want to live. He didn't want to be a Chaos Born, he didn't want to hurt innocent people. He didn't want to rule over them either, just to see their Gods destroy lives how ever they saw fit at any time._

 _"I just, I just want people to be happy because of me. I don't want them to be forced, or mind-controlled." He muttered in the silent dark room. Zonic didn't dare interrupt him. "I want people to be happy around me because they want to. I want them to like me because I'm a good person." He confessed. "I wanna be loved, but I don't want to be loved out of fear. Even if I wasn't royal blood, they'd bow to me anyway. I don't want that!" He suddenly yelled. "I want to be a king by_ earning _my crown! I want to earn respect, I want to earn loyalty, I want to earn love. I don't want everything handed to me, especially not at the cost of someone else's happiness. Or their life."_

 _The private watched him as he poured his heart out._

 _"They would have turned me into a tyrant anyway, make me forget my personality and my morality. Turn me into a monster. That's why I killed them all, so I could save them before it was too late. So they wouldn't suffer by my hand, or theirs." Tears dripped from his dried-out burning eyes. "I would have killed myself first, but they won't let me."_

 _Zonic felt something weird._

 _He felt like, he wanted to embrace him. Hold him._

 _He wasn't supposed to feel this way._

 _Before he knew it, he was doing just that. Hugging and holding Ogilvie on his mattress. Telling him that everything would be okay, that it wasn't his fault. Every murder that was committed by the prince wasn't a sadistic kill. According to every victim, it was always usually one wound that ended it. He didn't want to make any of his victims suffer, simply because he didn't want to do this in the first place. He just wanted to end their lives so they wouldn't suffer from his hand anyway. He thought that by acting so rebellious, the deities would kill him off so he couldn't repeat the process, but they wouldn't. They were just letting him suffer like this._

 _"Ogilvie," Zonic said softly. "Even if you succeeded, they would have just started over with another Chaos Born in another world, with another new population of people. The process would repeat no matter what, with or without you. So," He tightened his hold. "Why did you do this to yourself anyway? I know you know this already."_

 _A sniffle from the prince. "Because," He sniffed. "At least one generation wouldn't suffer. Those people still lived, those people were still normal. They weren't spawned in for a special purpose, they were just living their lives. I knew my kingdom's people personally thanks to the Great Peace. I know all their names and all their problems, one by one. I still remember...Every single one of them..." He shook against the private, as he couldn't embrace him back thanks to the straight jacket. "It was so hard to kill them, but I had to. They were going to become my slaves, mindless slaves. I didn't want that for them, I didn't..." He sobbed harder. "I'm so selfish."_

 _"..."_

 _It didn't excuse what he did. He still caused genocide and the destruction of his own world. He was still a killer, he still committed atrocities. His intentions were 'good' but, he still did something horrible._

 _And yet, Zonic felt sympathy for him._

* * *

 _From that day forward, Zonic tried his best to make Ogilvie's life here just a little easier. Sadly, nothing worked. He snuck him sweets, gave him some helpful medication from counselor Zouge, gave him a chess set to play with, and even tried talking to him as a friend. Unfortunately, everything was in vain. Ogilvie was too far gone. He liked Zonic's time there, and he even managed to make him smile sometimes. But in the end, none of it mattered to him. He was still trapped by the deities, who were making him suffer for his insolence. Sometimes, Zonic would even try to slip him some poison, an attempt at his life so the prince would no longer have to suffer anymore._

 _Again, it did not work._

 _The private became desperate as time passed, even running to his superior for help. The very person whom he used to despise and envy, the very man who was responsible for training him as a just soldier, he begged him for advice. Zhadow the Hedgehog was no normal zone cop either. He was created artificially to be a useful soldier in No Zone, but when Zonic arrived here as a child, that role changed. He was then responsible for protecting him as his guardian. The old Overseers warned Zobotnik that great tragedy would befall their world if they did not keep Zonic safe, so he assigned Zhadow to keep an eye on the private for as long as he lived here in their grounds._

 _He always tried to be discreet, and tried his best not to form much of a relationship with him since that was not his job. Like Zonic, he was supposed to be emotionless. A soulless creature who was only supposed to carry out orders perfectly. And yet, he found himself feeling pity for the private. He was all alone, and was raised to isolation. He was raised to think that emotions were bad, and that the deities his people worshipped were never wrong. Zhadow always knew they were trouble. Zonic's life had no purpose except to watch over a race that did nothing but harm to everything they touched. That wasn't fair, he never asked for this life._ _So when the teenager ran up to him and asked him for assistance, he couldn't just refuse him outright. Besides, Zonic never willingly came to him for help like this, he was too stubborn. That meant this was serious._

 _"...You want me to what?"_

 _"I said, I want you to help me find a way to kill Ogilvie permanently."_

 _Zhadow narrowed his eyes at the request. "You, wish to murder him?" This was still a child he was talking to, why did he want to do such a callous thing?_

 _Zonic shook his head. "No, I want to set him free. He's suffering in there!" He made a look of guilt. "And, it's partly my fault anyway. He's my responsibility and I need to fix what I did wrong."_

 _"By ending his life?"_

 _"Yes." He answered back gradually. "He doesn't want to live, and he's in constant pain thanks to the divine spirits. No one should be living like that."_

 _Zhadow scowled. "Need I remind you that this Chaos Born of yours wreaked havoc on his entire reality? You cannot show sympathy to monsters, rookie. You're talking nothing but nonsense." He turned his back to him and started walking away back to his office. "Quit wasting your time with hopeless criminals, your training starts in an hour. We'll be hitting bullseyes again, so don't be late-"_

 _"_ I'm _the monster."_

 _The blue hedgehog dropped to his knees and lowered his head towards the floor. His body quivered as tears freely dripped onto the glossy floor. Zhadow froze at the sound of his tears. Was he, was he_ crying? _He wasn't made to do that, he shouldn't be able to do that. That sorrow...no it was more than that. That was despair, that was pure hopelessness. His voice was shattered, he sounded as if the entire world was falling down into oblivion. That the sky was breaking apart with it's pieces toppling over him._

 _"..." Zhadow didn't say anything yet._

 _Zonic sniffled as he never moved to get back up. "If I had realized how horrible of a race we were, I would...I would have never..." He covered his face with his fists. "Everything he said, he was right, and I wouldn't wake up to see the truth. Every single one of us, even the Champion himself...We're all nothing but monsters waiting to conquer the world and move onto the next. And me, I'm just helping them achieve that!" He looked up at Zhadow, his ears flattened with tears still dripping from his muzzle. "He was right, all of us should all die! We're nothing but a cancer to the universe!"_

 _The elite whipped his head at his private. "You dare to speak more nonsense? What the hell are you even talking about?!" He yelled. "What are you, delirious or psychotic?" He said roughly. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? You're saying you'd rather die than live! How dare you so recklessly talk of suicide!?"_

 _"Because it's better for everyone if we all just disappeared!" Zonic hollered._

 _Zhadow's eyes widened at that. The private slumped himself against the wall, sitting on the floor as he pathetically glared at the tiles._

 _"I thought us reproducing and ruling over our respective realities was just a simple way of life. I thought all the killing, the conquering, the tyranny, was okay. I mean, it was my job, our job. So, I was desensitized. I thought this was normal. And then, I looked back at my monitors and watched the realities carefully. I watched up to about, one thousand the other day." He gripped his fingers into his uniform pants. "And you know what I saw, first lieutenant Zhadow?"_

 _The elite didn't respond, only listened._

 _Zonic's grimaced deepened. "I finally opened my eyes and saw ourselves for what we truly were." He whispered. "Reality number 786, the reality of switched genders. The 'Sonic' in that realm, a woman, easily took over the world with both her powers and her charm. She's still young, but it will only be a matter of time before she forces several men to give her the pregnancies she desires. All to reproduce and make more monsters." He spoke with disgust. "Reality number 2244, the reality of opposite roles. The 'Sonic' there is not the hero. He is the sidekick, while the counterpart to Miles prime is the true heroin. Little does he know, the Sonic in that world is waiting for the right chance to overthrow the fox of his reign, and take the world over for himself thanks to his intellect and chaotic power. He's willing to betray his own best friend just to get what's rightfully his." Zonic spoke through gritted teeth._

 _This is what they were bred to do. To conquer. To rule. To destroy and move on to the next._

 _"Reality number 57, the reality of knights. The Sonic in that realm is a medieval king who rules the majority of their world, with magic and powerful knights of our counterparts at his disposal. He's already become mad with power, and now he's destroying his world too. Killing the very people who bowed to his feet without hesitation." He raised his head to look at Zhadow. "Who's going to stop him? He's the king, and the single most powerful being in that reality. No one will be safe." He looked back down. "And the worst part is, it doesn't matter what gender you are. Male, female...None of that is a factor. All of us, can reproduce in some way shape or form. They will all make more..." He murmured. "More of us..."_

 _Zhadow watched as his private weakly stood up on his own and stepped directly in front of him._

 _"Don't you understand?" Zonic asked. "We're a cancerous disease, a virus. Ogilvie was the only one who opened his eyes, he didn't want to hurt anyone or torture his people. If he ended the lives of the Moebians, no one would have to suffer at his hand. And that's why he wanted to die, so he could end his part in their game!"_

 _The elite blinked. "Game?"_

 _The private gripped his superior's forearms. "The divine ones' game, their sick game to play God with all of us!"_

 _He looked frightened, he looked angry, and he looked as if he gave up. His private truly didn't know what to do, and the desperation in his voice was obvious. Zhadow softly placed his hands on top of Zonic's so he could let go of him. "I always knew the beings you looked up to were immoral, I just didn't realize it was this horrific. I never knew the details of what a Chaos Born's purpose was. If I knew it was this, I wouldn't have agreed to watch over you." He briefly looked down. "I've never seen you act this antsy before about anything, and you're no liar." He looked back into Zonic's eyes. "You know that they're wrong, so I suppose I don't mind staying your guardian. If you're going to do something reckless, I can't allow that to happen."_

 _"But I have to do something, anything!" Zonic exclaimed._

 _"I will talk with the warden to see if something can be done with the former prince's death, but," He frowned. "What about the rest of you? Are you just going to try and kill yourself too?"_

 _Zonic bit his lip and looked away. He was right, could he really just do that? He was made not to have fear but, Zonic did indeed fear death. Death was a concept he just couldn't understand, and no one knew what happened after death until it happened. He didn't want that. And even if he did have the balls to put a gun up to his head and blow his brains out, the deities could always just spawn up another Overseer. Sure it'd be harder to teach that one since all of Zonic's ancestors were now dead, but they would find a way. His death would mean nothing, and the same went for the rest of the other Chaos Born._ _The only one that couldn't be recycled was the Champion. But the others?_ _They were disposable, they could be 'reset' at any time with a new generation who would surely act obedient the next time around._

 _What could he do about that?_

 _..._

 _That's when it hit him._

 _Zonic spent a lot of time watching over the future Champion, and thanks to that, he was able to grow up with a relatively good heart. He'd never know it was Zonic that kept him company throughout his entire childhood, but it didn't matter. It did the trick, and made Sonic feel happy and satisfied. His mental state was in check, and he was for the most part, normal. Zonic needed to do the same for the others who haven't fallen victim to the divine ones' ambitions. Yes, he wouldn't fail again, he'd fix his mistakes. A few bad apples wouldn't make the entire orchid rotten. All he had to do was be a real friend, not some emotionless foreman. He wouldn't let something like Ogilvie happen again, ever!_

 _First, he'd find a way to end his suffering. Then, he could-_

 _"My dear Grand Overseer, two thousand and twentieth generation, Zonic the Chaos Born."_

 _A strange voice, that sounded as if it was right behind him._

 _Dread shot up his spine, making it tingle and tremor his entire skeletal structure. Zonic instantly began to sweat, and his own superior in front of him also began to look intimidated. Unlike Zonic, he could see who was breathing behind him. He could feel the burning raw sensation of power emanating from the person, it felt like a burning radiator. He could feel the heat waves of their chaos power. That voice, sounded similar to both his own and other Sonics from other realities. Only the difference is, it sounded as if it wasn't of this world. Like he almost couldn't understand what he was saying, only barely making out it's words. His voice was that of an archangel, a voice that could only truly be understood from angelic hymns. Speaking strange tongues._

 _A large shadow loomed over the private, it was devouring him. Zonic could see the reflection of the being's aura shine off the walls. It was a rainbow of colors, several at once that was slowly changing into another after a few seconds. That rainbow of colors could only mean one thing:_ It was him.

 _The light one._

 _He could feel his lips brush against his ear. "How disheartening. You do not approve of our methods, and now you wish to change the mentality of our other children? That is a treasonous act, Overseer."_

 _Terror, was an understatement as of this moment._

 _Instantly, both Zhadow and Zonic fell to their knees, as their bodies were too weak to handle being around a God this closely. It felt like the very air was thinning, they were so terrified. And even still, Zonic wouldn't turn around to face him. He couldn't, that'd be too much.  
_

 _The light one continued with a gentle tone. "Please, do not be so fearful of me. I do not wish to harm either of you. I only came to do one thing, make a...divine intervention." He chuckled at his own little joke. "I digress. Please, allow me to give you what you want." He said while placing his hand onto Zonic's shoulder. His hand, felt icy yet hot at the same time. "I understand that Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog, Sonic template 125, has seen the truth and no longer wants to be one of us. He'd rather die. I, sadly understand his plight." The being spoke rather seriously. "None of our children deserve to suffer like this, he's been through so much before he was even arrested. And you Overseer," He spoke to Zonic directly with a tender smile. "You were not meant to have emotions, and yet you've changed. You are better than any other Overseer thanks to that alone. You showed compassion and sympathy to someone who has done horrible things, as you wish to fix them so they can live a happier life."_

 _...And then, that smile twisted._

 _"...That is not how reality works."_

 _He leaned in closer to Zonic's ear, the being's leer growing with evil intentions. "All you're doing is rewarding a villain who murdered innocents, all for a 'bigger and better reason'. That sounds like the work of a blasphemous cult leader if you ask me, and you making him feel better about himself is only enabling that feeling tenfold." He suddenly said while tossing Zonic onto the floor beside Zhadow. "You think it's justified? Justified murder? Justified evil? What sacrilege is this?" He asked callously with a shrug. "So what if it was to stop us? It was still wrong. And you know what else is wrong, Overseer?" The being asked while bending down to their eye level. "You, getting in the way of my ambitions."_

 _The being stood up and floated away from the both of them, their long spectrum-colored quills flowing in the air. Zonic began to panic, what was he going to do!? "W-Wait!" He weakly raised a hand out to him, as he could barely move from that toss. "Stop!"_

 _"I will grant Ogilvie Maurice the mortality and eventual death he desires, but not before I get what I want."_

 _Another demented grin._

 _"...More children to use for our revolution."_

* * *

 **END - 41**

 **A criminal should not be forgiven for what they did.**

 **Well, for me, it _depends_ on what they did. If they robbed someone but didn't kill or severely hurt anyone, I couldn't be too angry at them. But a murderer? An animal abuser? A rapist? A child predator? There is no forgiveness in the world. Now, I do like the idea of a vigilante. Say, a killer who only kills other killers to stop their reign of terror, I could maybe get behind that. MAYBE. (I watched Dexter, bite me.)**

 **But as for Scourge/Ogilvie, he doesn't deserve to be forgiven. Not in my opinion. He's killed too many people. And while he tried to do this as painless as possible for a good intention, he still committed genocide. What did we talk about in the last chapter? Intentions mean jack shit. _What matters is what you did_. And genocide is a horrific crime. Now I'll also say this: While some criminals deserve the absolute worst torture imaginable, some criminals don't. I believe a petty thief doesn't deserve to be tortured or put on death row, but a child murderer could most definitely bite the dust. Slowly, and painfully.**

 **As said before, I believe it all depends on what they did that validates certain punishments. _The divine spirits feel the same way whenever someone disobeys them._**

 **As for Scourge...**

 **Well...**

 **...Y'all may not like what happens next.**


	47. One Trillion Colors

**Warning: Small rape scene later on.**

* * *

 **42 - One Trillion Colors**

* * *

 _The divine being who stood at least a few inches taller than both hedgehogs, continued to float away while humming a foreign song. The colors of the rainbow, so beautiful, with terror rising from it's chaotic spectrum. He was leaving, he was going to Ogilvie's room. He couldn't let that happen. No-_

 _"...Stop..."_

 _He refused to let that happen!  
_

 _Zonic instantly stood up and sprinted forward while raising his hand to seize the hand of the spirit. "I said STOP!" He yelled, using both hands to pull at the deity's wrist. "I won't let you!" He hollered. "I will never let one of you hurt him again!" As he continued to pull harder and harder, the taller hedgehog-looking being just stood in the exact same place. He never turned around, never faced him, only paused for but a moment as Zonic miserably attempted to stop him. "H-He's my responsibility, he's one of my brethren! I'm his big brother, so go away and let me handle it myself! I can do this on my own!"_

 _The deity's long quills that flowed in the air change a particular color, a light yellow. "Oh?" He tilted his head._

 _"Yes!" Zonic exclaimed. "I can do this all on my own, I don't need help from the likes of_ you! _" With another big pull, Zonic finally mustered the strength to yank the larger being back. "We don't need you! SO GO AWAY!" He screamed as his weight gave in._

 _The deity slowly floated backwards from his previous spot, having been pitifully tossed from behind. Now, they both could fully see his face._

 _The face, of one trillion colors._

 _His own immense aura that was nearly pure white, lightened the color of his muzzle and peach arms. They looked almost pale thanks to that. Fur that was almost just as blank, with an infinite number of spectrums shining all throughout his body. Slowly changing from one color palette to the next every couple of minutes. His eyes, his gorgeous hot pink eyes. Hot pink, **or scarlet red?** It was hard to differentiate the two. He was so heavenly, so pretty, that even his eyes had long lashes. Beautiful. His fur was so smooth, groomed flawlessly. His lips, full enough to kiss the very sun or the moon. His quills, long enough to be considered voluminous hair. The shoes that their species sported, they were hi-tech but ancient. A mysterious technology crafted his foot ware long ago, handmade himself._

 _He was so..._

 _So..._

 _...Perfect._

 _Zonic and Zhadow's tear ducts were now flooding with tears of many shades. Yellows, blues, greens, pinks, they were all falling from their eyes. The divine spirit was so beautiful, they cried tears of the spectrum. Their bodies became weak, with Zonic involuntarily kneeling all over again. He tried looking over to Zhadow, only to see that his superior was absolutely hypnotized by this very being. He was too far gone to wake up. He couldn't help him, he was on his own. While sniffling and desperately trying to wipe his tears away, Zonic tried getting up to move. But he wouldn't, the rest of his body was paralyzed with purity. He was too weak, he wasn't strong enough to stand against him._

 _But he had to! He had to protect Ogilvie, he just had to! He had to, he had to-_

 _"Cease, Zonic."_

 _His command, was absolute._

 _He...He had to listen...To him..._

 _Had to...Listen..._

 _Had...to..._

 _Listen..._

 _..._

 _... **Display obedience.**_

 _"You are far too weak, child." The divine being said as he floated a bit closer in front of him. "My power can easily command the heart and soul of anyone who is too weak to stand against my aura." He lowered his arm downwards, gently caressing Zonic's chin to tilt it up. He looked the God directly in his hot pink eyes, watching small stars and comets whirl inside of his godly irises. "You are Chaos Born, and your bloodline is indeed sacred to us, but right now you are failing me." He squeezed his thumb and fingers against Zonic's face painfully, an angry frown now very apparent on his muzzle. "Your insolence is unbecoming of you, you are asking a painful death for such blasphemy."_

 _Then, a small exhale drifted from his lips. An exhale so gentle, yet so powerful, that a colorful whirlwind of air blew throughout the entire facility in a small instant._

 _"However," The light one added with a much more softer tone. "I am willing to forgive you. After all, I am not the vengeful one. I," He withdrew his hold from Zonic's face. "Am the pure one, the forgiving one." He held up a fist, tightening it as his fur changed to yellow. "I hold complete control and dominion over everything." That fist loosened, his fur changing to light blue. "I hold the very hearts and souls of all Chaos Born, with sympathy, empathy and love. And I also embody the very essence of obedience, something that you and Ogilvie lack. Still," He looked away as his fur changed to white. "My love for you all overpowers anything that I stand for, even my own ambitions." He slowly turned his back towards him. "Therefore, I will excuse both you and Ogilvie for your treason."_

 _His control of Zonic ceased when he finally stopped looking him in the eye. Zonic regained feeling in all of his limbs again, while his superior fell unconscious. No one could handle that kind of power unless they were full-blooded Chaos Born. He placed his hands onto the floor, pushing himself to try and stand. "Y-You're..." He could barely breathe, his power put way too much pressure on their bodies. "L-L...Letting us...G-Go?" He tried to asked in a deathly whisper. He felt so weak, so tired. So scared._

 _The deity nodded. "Indeed. But as for your punishment, I will not grant Ogilvie death. I am afraid he must obey our rules first, if he wishes to die." He hesitated. "And," He added another thing. "Please understand, that Ogilvie is way passed due his mating stage."_

 _Zonic blinked. "W-What?"_

 _"Are you aware of female menstruation cycles, Zonic?" The light one asked._

 _He nodded, unsure of what the God would say next. "Yes."_

 _"And are you aware of an estrous cycle?"_

 _"Y-Yes. But why?"_

 _"You see child," The being turned around to face him, but he did not look him in the eyes this time. He didn't want to paralyze him again. "How a Chaos Born mates is eerily similar to both phenomenons." He crossed his legs in the air, with his hands folded in his lap as he floated. "As you already know, gender is unimportant in terms of possibility. With every reality, the way a male reproduces are usually similar. But for any gender, the way they go through heat can vary drastically. For example," He snapped his gloved fingers, a white bubble appearing before them._

 _In that very bubble, they could see the other realities and other Sonics that existed in the multiverse._

 _The light one levitated it closer to Zonic's eyes so he could see for himself. As if looking through a crystal ball, he saw scenes change within it. "Reality 786, the reality of switched genders. You see the female Sonic there?" After seeing Zonic nod with silence, the being moved on. "Her pregnancy is standard for a normal female. Sperm will reach her eggs, she will grow a belly, an embryo will form in her stomach, and she will give birth in a certain amount of months. Chaotic pregnancies are usually rather shorter than normal Mobian pregnancies, but I digress. Her process is simple. The way she gives off heat in this reality though, is different."_

 _He snapped his fingers again, and something else appeared: The very anatomy of a Chaos Born in that Sonic's reality._

 _"With normal Mobians, they give off heat like a bad stench. You can sense it, and your hormones are easily triggered. But in this reality for Chaos Born, this is not so. Instead of a stench or aura, this Sonic in this reality, will go through intense and unfathomable pain until she is completely satisfied." The bubble showed the anatomy of the Sonic's abdomen. "All of her heat and pain will rush there if she does not mate. This, will be her menstruation cycle." He snapped his fingers again to show a different Sonic, a male one this time. "Reality 2244, reality of switched roles. The Sonic in this one, a male, will go through heat in another way." The bubble changed to show an image of this Sonic's brain. "The heat will act less like a stench, and more of a biological chemical that directly infects the side of the brain that control emotions. He will no longer act like one's 'sidekick', he will be confident, suave, and fearless with a strong sex drive. He will be a completely different person, and his persona will be severely altered for a temporary amount of time."_

 _The nerd-like Sonic in that world, would no longer be so. He'd probably act like some sex-crazed juvenile._

 _"Also, if he were to mate with another male, the pregnancy process is of course very different. Since males do not hold eggs naturally like females, he must gain them through force. They will need one of us for aid, but either way, one of us would grant him the ability of gaining eggs and the ability to ovulate by committing **a Divine Intervention**."_

 _A what? Zonic was getting way too confused by all of this. So that joke he made earlier when he first appeared was actually legit information?_

 _"Divine Intervention is a chaotic power that gives a male Chaos Born the ability to reproduce in a certain method. That method, is submerging the male in deep levels of water filled chaos with the combined powers of all four of us at full strength. The process is extremely painful the first time, but it can be done." The images on the bubble changed to the male Chaos Born's abdomen. "They won't grow a belly, and there won't be an embryo. Instead, there will be a soul growing inside until it's big enough to be released. It will then form it's own body with flesh in the very place the male was submerged, and will be born there. It takes a longer time for this to happen, around an entire year."_

 _Zonic slowly shook his head. "Why...Why are you telling me all of this?"_

 _"Because something like this is what Ogilvie will go through if he does not mate. He doesn't even need to lose maidenhood, I just need a single child from him. Nothing more." The light one furrowed his brows. "Every Chaos Born has a due date to discard their chastity and reproduce, but he's long passed due. If he doesn't go through with mating, he will be forced into his own e_ _strous cycle, and he will suffer for it." The light one narrowed his hot pink irises with concern. "In his reality, when a Chaos Born is in heat, they will become weak and tired. So much as walking is an ordeal as their very bones become fatigued. Not only that, but they will give off a horrendous stench of lust, that will attract even the most stubborn creatures. It is so powerful, not even you would be able to resist Ogilvie. You would all be ants fleeing to a rotten apple."_

 _The Overseer's eyes shrunk in alarm. "Y-You've gotta be kidding me." They would all be trying to have intercourse with Ogilvie, all at once? "That, that's just disgusting! He's still just a kid! He's only fifteen!"_

 _"We know it is, but the way you all are created is out of our control. We only have the power to spawn you into existence. Anything else about you is created entirely on the flip of a coin. Your weaknesses, your physical traits, even the way you mate or give birth, it's all out of our control. In fact, we only just figured out how to allow males to breed some centuries ago. Even we are still learning." He sighed. "The worst part, since Ogilvie has weakened himself, he won't even be able to move a single finger. He'll be practically immobilized. The ones attracted to his heat can either be gentle, or violent with him."_

 _"N-No," Zonic whispered. "No!" He yelled. "I don't want him to be forced to do anything! I don't want anyone to hurt him anymore! Do something!"_

 _The light one turned his head away from him while closing his eyes with abrupt agitation. "I am sorry, but you have twisted my arm. If you had let me have my way, I would have made Ogilvie reproduce without pain, nor pleasure. Divine Intervention also has a way of reproducing Chaos Born in a one-sided pregnancy. The process could have been done asexually. It would have been a quick process, but you've already made up your mind, no?" He turned up his nose to him, floating away as the bubble before him popped. "You dare speak back to me, put your filthy hands on me and bad mouth me like I am some evil step parent? Tch, your arrogance has hurt you."_

 _He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't! He had to do something to stop this! "N-No, wait-! Please!" Zonic settled back down on his knees, sinking his head low to show that he was not worthy. "I-I'm sorry, I'll listen! I won't disobey anymore, just help Ogilvie! Please!" He pleaded. "I'll do anything!"_

 _"And now you're begging for help? My," He made a bitter scoff and crossed his arms under his chest. "How the mighty Overseers have fallen. I am done with your indecisive attitude child, this is both your punishment and Ogilvie's for extreme insolence. You for your arrogance, and him for his rebellious nature. My forgiveness can go but so far. You said you could handle this on your own? Well, this is all your mess now, Overseer Zonic. I've other matters to attend to either way."_

 _He couldn't just leave. He can't just do that! "...N-No." He whimpered._

 _"Goodbye."_

 _"NO!"_

 _He threw his hand back out to seize his wrist but-_

 _-He was gone._

* * *

 _Five hours later, Zonic marched to Zobonik's office and demanded that he shut down the entire facility. He told him to force all workers to go home for approximately one week. With some last minute studying, Zonic realized that Ogilvie would go in heat within three hours. Zonic and Zhadow would be the only ones present in the building. They would lock themselves in their own offices, and would not come out for any reason. Ogilvie's heat rose and lowered every few hours, so sometimes it wouldn't be as strong. Meaning, they'd be able to handle it if it was weak. That would be when they could leave their offices to use the bathroom, or check up on him in the prison. Everything would work out fine._

 _At least, that's how he wished things went._

 _Zonic thought he'd be able to argue the fat human down, get his way. But no, that didn't happen. Zonic made so much of a fuss about Ogilvie, Zobotnik grew tired of it and ordered for him to be detained with Zhadow as his escort. He denied Zonic of all of his conditions, and ordered for him to leave his sight and spend a few days in the hole for a while. He knew of the divine spirits, and he knew about the light one. But he didn't believe him about the whole 'mating' thing. However, he also didn't care. This was his prison, his HQ, and he wouldn't be ordered around by some crazy-talking teenager that he didn't even care about in the first place._

 _Before_ _he knew it, Zonic was in handcuffs. Zhadow tried to fight against this, defend his prodigy and demand that the Warden change his mind. That is, until he was ordered to be detained too. They were both injected with something that knocked them out instantly, and they were dragged to their new cells. The warden just laughed at them as they were taken away._

 _"Why the hell would I listen to you!? I'm sick of you damn Chaos Born ordering me around like some slave! Well how about this? I'm a rebel too! And I'm not going to listen to any of you wenches! Not you, not those Divine Ghosts or whatever, nobody! This is MY prison! MY HQ, and MY reality! Screw you!" He cackled, and cackled and cackled. "Hahaha, I'm in control here! The sooner you understand that,"_

 _He smirked._

 _"The easier your life here will be."_

* * *

 _That very night, the very doctors who used to give checkups to Ogilvie..._

 _"My," One smiled as they held up a needle. It was a male lizard. "I never noticed this before but, you're quite a gorgeous specimen, prisoner seventeen." They complimented._

 _Another, a female red panda, spread his legs apart as he whimpered. He couldn't even kick her away. "Oh my, you're not even hard yet." That's because he didn't enjoy this. Sure he may have been in heat, but he didn't want this at all. "We can fix that though, right sweetie?"_

 _The prince tried shaking his head, but he could barely move a muscle. "N-No...Please...Don't..." He couldn't even speak. It felt like he was dying._

 _Yet another, a male knock-out rat, rubbed his fingers against his peach stomach. "I wonder how you feel inside."_

 _"No...No..."_

 _"Don't fight it, it's love at the end of the day."_

 _Love._

 _In all of their eyes, were cloudy murkiness of blinded lust. They didn't know what they were doing, they had no idea they were hurting somebody. To them, it was an orgy they unwillingly took apart of. That was the power of Ogilvie's heat. They were hurting someone, raping someone without their own knowledge._ _Even still, t_ _hey were the ones hurting him, not the other way around._

 _They kept touching him, penetrating him, licking him and tasting him for hours and hours. Those same monsters returned to his cell every single night. They wouldn't stop, no matter how many times he begged them to. They just wouldn't stop, never ever stopping. The touching, the groping, the whispering, the laughing, the pain, the humiliation, the pain...So much pain._

 _Pain..._

 _...That's why, he didn't feel sorry for smearing their body parts all over the walls after he had enough._

 _And also, that, is when he lost his mind._

 _That, is when he lost any small ounce of sanity he had left within his mind._

 _As of now, he was truly broken this time._

* * *

 _As for Zonic and Zhadow, they went through pain as well. They were separated, beaten by other cellmates, spat on and jumped as ordered by Zobotnik himself for their insolence against the warden. After Ogilvie's week of being in heat was over, their temporary sentence was over. In that time, Zonic was no longer that indecisive scared little boy. He finally realized why the divine spirits created him to be emotionless, why his ancestors raised him to be emotionless. Because if he didn't have any emotions, he could have taken those beatings a lot easier. He wouldn't have cried in front of them, looked weak in front of them, be humiliated in front of them. He still would have had his dignity._

 _When he and Zhadow were reunited, he didn't even smile at his superior. Nor did he even look at him. It didn't take Zhadow long to realize that his little apprentice, was no longer the child he used to know. Then, when they heard the news of Ogilvie's rape, Zonic truly died inside. His bright green eyes, were dulled. No longer did they have a spark in them, no longer were they lime and full of life. They were dead, and cold. And they would stay that way, for years and years to come. Zobotnik did nothing to help him, and even had the incident covered up so no one else would know about this. All they would know, is that Ogilvie murdered three doctors, and that it was all his fault._

 _That day, Zonic became a true failure._

 _One more week later, Zonic visited Ogilvie one last time._

 _Even to Ogilvie, Zonic was entirely different. He was no longer sympathetic, he was no longer the nice Overseer who just wanted to be a friend. He was the empty cold blooded private who wanted nothing more than to release his deepened rage, sorrow and guilt on one person in particular: Zobotnik. When Zonic arrived in his cell with new scars and wounds on his body, Ogilvie stared. His body was sprawled on his bed, his straight jacket not even on. Only his orange prison uniform, which was tattered and ripped. He managed to get out of it somehow. There were writings and carvings on the wall, and so were blood stains. There were many lines on his wrists, he was cutting himself. He looked just as dead as Zonic did right now._

 _After ten minutes of silence, Zonic finally spoke up. "...Would you like to leave?" He asked in a deathly whisper._

 _Ogilvie said nothing back. He didn't feel like using his vocal chords. He just wanted to sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Forever._

 _The failed Overseer continued on anyway. "One of the exits of the prison are open. I will give you a key, and the password to the HQ entrance. I will also give you a small scaled warp ring that leads back to your world. Take all of these items, and leave. Do not turn back." His voice was so monotone and dry, now. "Don't even hesitate. Never return._ _" He kept staring back at the prince. "Do you understand?"_

 _Slowly, he sat up in his bed. Then after a minute, he nodded. "..."_

 _"Good," Zonic stood up from the chair and walked over in front of the bed. He dug in his quills and dropped all of the items he mentioned before in front of him. "Here," He said. He then walked away from the bed, and stepped out of the room. However, it didn't close back and it was now wide open. He paused by the doorway, and Ogilvie watched with ghostly eyes. "Go," He ordered. "Now." And with that, the Overseer was gone._

 _Ogilvie looked down at his items, before scrambling them all up in his hands and limping out of his cell._

 _The reason for Ogilvie Maurice's first escape from No Zone Prison, was all thanks to Zonic._

 _Zonic stood behind the open door to Ogilvie's cell, watching him wobble down the hall and make a sharp right turn. A gloved hand grasped Zonic's shoulder. A familiar heavenly voice laced his hearing, perfect lips whispering beside his ear. "You've done well, Overseer Zonic. At least this way, Ogilvie will no longer suffer here. He will eventually find true love and reproduce, and he will receive what he's always wanted. Death."_

 _Zonic said nothing as the deity floated onwards to the other person who stood there with him._

 _"And as for you, Overlander," He was speaking to Zobtonik, who was now paralyzed from the light one's direct gaze. He was stuck in a standing position, he couldn't move. The being spoke with disgust at the human. "Are you happy now? One of my children was raped and dirtied thanks to your order to detain and abuse his Overseer." He circled around Zobtonik slowly, watching the human's face become even more horrified with every second he spent around him. "You sadistic, revolting, scum-eating swine. I hope you're satisfied with yourself."_

 _For once in his life, Zobotnik was silent, and very fearful._

 _The light one scrunched up his darkened face in utter abhorrence and swiftly turned away from the human. "Grotesque is what your species is. And you wonder why you were all eradicated the first go round when my brothers and I were first born. You all sicken me!" He yelled. "Now both of you," He was referring to Zonic as well, who didn't dare look his way. He listened in silence. The light one floated in front of them both. "Listen carefully. Neither of you are to speak of any of this to the Champion. His judgement of us is more important than anything in the multiverse. Your lips," He held up his finger to his own mouth, before placing a small peck to his finger tip. He then tapped that same finger on Zonic's lips, a small surge of a strange power slipping through them. "...Are sealed."_

 _He was never to speak of it again._

 _"I hope you've learned your lesson, child." The being said to the failed Overseer. "You do not disobey me without paying a hefty price. In this case, your price was your dignity and your reputation as an Overseer." His eyes lowered with dishonor. "Sadly for Ogilvie, it was his maidenhood and his sanity. What a shame...Hopefully with time, he will find his trust in me again. And perhaps one day I'll be able to heal his permanent wounds." He then glanced at Zonic. "_ _If you ever somehow break the seal and reveal this information to the Champion," His hot pink eyes became **burning scarlet** for a second. "I will not hesitate to make your very existence a living nightmare._ _" He quickly glared at Zobotnik. "That includes you too, human waste."_

 _He then disappeared in a flash of white light._

 _"I hope we never have a talk like this again. Farewell."_

 _His voice echoed throughout the halls in his absence._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

* * *

The room they all stood in, it was now on fire. The metal walls, floors and iron bars, they were all rusted. The cot, chair, everything was rotting away into red embers of fire. Small chaotic scarlet flames were slowly growing bigger and bigger. Everyone not including Scourge, were all huddled together in a circle. Sonic, Shadow, Zonic, Zhadow, Zector and Zespio. All of their eyes were drained, with blood dripping from them as red swirls twisted in their eyeballs. Their eyes hurt, they burned from witnessing the truth. Scourge stood in front of them all, his energy fully recharged and returned to him as he watched them all see what he saw: Zonic's memories.

But the weirdest part about this? Zonic was laughing hysterically while crying blood. Scourge had no idea why, he could only assume because he lost his mind from witnessing what he did in the past. After Zonic's memories of the incident ended, Scourge decided it was time to break everyone out of his control. He snapped his fingers, asking for Fleetway to let them all go. "That's enough, Boss."

Instantly, everyone started screaming.

They immediately grabbed at their eyes, hollering and wobbling around in pain. Fleetway didn't have the power of healing others, so Scourge couldn't do anything. He just watched as they were all blinded by the searing pain. He didn't smile at their pain, he didn't even snicker. This wasn't funny. None of this shit was funny. This was pathetic, pitiful, enraging. He just looked away and crossed his arms while closing his own eyes.

Suddenly, Sonic held up one of his hands away from his bloody eyes and called forth for the deities once more. "Hyper," He hissed with agony. "Give me...G-Give me some of your power for just a second! I need to heal everyone!"

With his prayers instantly answered, the hand that he held up had a flash of white light whisk around it. That white light soon became multicolored, surrounding and growing around his entire arm. Then, that white light blinded them all for a few seconds, before fading away. Immediately, the pain was gone. The chaotic scarlet fires, were extinguished. The rotting room, was now back to the way it was. The metal walls and floors were no longer rusty, the chair did not rot away and neither did the cot. Their eyes were no longer bleeding, they could see again.

Sonic scanned the room and saw that everyone seemed fine. Zespio and Zector looked at each other, before glancing over at the blue hedgehog. He then turned to the side to see Shadow, who was looking down at his hands that were previously stained with blood. Now they were white and clean. He moved his head and looked in Sonic's direction, knowing it was his doing. Right, everyone was fine except...for...Sonic looked behind him near the wall.

Oh no.

Oh God, just no.

"Zonic, Zonic!" Zhadow shouted as he shook his commander's body. Zonic's head was laying in Zhadow's lap, his body limp on the floor as he laughed manically. Cascades of tears continued falling from his face as he laughed at something. Or nothing. He was stuck in madness, his own madness. His own guilt for what he had done trapped him, and there was no escaping. "Wake up, wake up damn it!" He yelled desperately as he tried shaking him again. It was no use, he wouldn't wake up.

"Ahahaha...Ahahahahaaaa..." There was a permanent smile on his face. "He's there...He's _always_ there...Standing behind you...Hahaha...Ogilvie...You should say hello! _Hahaha!_ "

Sonic's pupils shrunk in fear. He whipped his head over at Scourge. "Did you do this!? Fix this!" He ordered.

"Before you starting jamming your finger at people, get your damn facts straight." Scourge snarled back at him. "I didn't fucking do that!" He said while pointing to Zonic. "I don't know what the fuck that shit is, but Fleetway had nothin' to do with that."

The hero growled at his attitude. "Then what the hell are we supposed to do!?"

"How should I know? He's not my fucking problem!"

Blue chaos energy roared from Sonic's body as he angrily stepped forward in front of Scourge. "You're the one who ripped his memories out of his damn head, who's to say your power didn't trigger his own insanity?"

Scourge clenched his fanged teeth in just as much exasperation. "And what if it did? It's his own fucking fault."

Sonic's eyes twitched. "...What'd you just say out of your mouth?"

"You fucking heard me, it's his fault!" He shoved Sonic away with large force, shooting him to the other side of the room and his back hitting the metal wall. He even dented it upon impact. He coughed as the very air was taken from him, falling to his knees as Shadow rushed to his side. Scourge materialized a leather jacket on his back, and he zipped it up as he spoke. "Don't fucking come at me like this is all my fault, it's his too! That bastard started goin' nuts the second his ancestors kept isolating him. But he only turned out like this, because his guilt for fucking me over is eating away at him like a damn parasite. This is his despair, and now he's trapped in it after he saw the truth for himself. The truth he tried to look away from, the truth he tried to blind himself to...Now he'll never be able to look away ever again."

Shadow gave him a devilish glare, as did Sonic when he finally got his breathing in order.

Scourge squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to forget. "He tried to forget, but I never did. I never could!" He grinded his teeth back and forth. "They kept shoving things inside of me, over and over. Injecting me with serums to see how my body would react. They kept telling me that's what true love was, to hurt someone like that. Then I realized that...That..." He tightened his hands into fists, they shook with indignity and rage. "...Chaos Born in my reality, that's the only way we can mate. By letting someone rape us like paralyzed cattle!"

"But that's not Zonic's fault!"

"Yes it _was!_ " Scourge yelled, red and black chaotic energy rising from his own body. The entire room quickly went back to it's rotten and decayed state, but with an even worser appearance than before. The metal in the room was entirely rusted, the chair and cot was destroyed. "He could have did something to stop them! He could have tried to escape from his imprisonment, and got me out sooner before they touched me! Or hell, he could have fucking murdered that fat bitch Zobotnik, took control over the entire facility years ago, and warped me back home! He had the fucking power to do it! Even a weakling like Zonic can kill a human! He didn't have to just take it laying down like some pansy! He was supposed to protect me! He was supposed to be MY Overseer! MY Big Brother! And he did nothing! He's pathetic. He should die a slow and agonizing death for all I fucking care!"

Sonic's quills raised, sharpening threateningly. He shoved his fist onto the floor with static sparking in his green eyes. "And what the fuck did _you_ do!?" He yelled back.

"..!?" Scourge was alarmed at his sudden comeback.

"You call him weak, you say he just took it lying down? And what the fuck about you!?" He snatched Shadow off of his shoulder and stood up on his own, marching right back to the green menace. Utterly surprised by Sonic's outburst, perhaps even a little disturbed, Scourge backed away slowly from the hero. His blue eyes slowly shrinking in shock at his words. " _You_ just gave up! You say the divine beings are monsters, but you did nothing about it! Instead, you took the coward's way out and killed everyone else affected by them besides you! You despise them so much? Then why didn't you do anything to stop them!? Why the hell would you put your entire dependency on one person?!"

With some emotions conflicting in Scourge's eyes, he gulped, but growled and argued right back. "I _did_ do something! I freed my people from their power! I freed them from what I would have eventually did!"

"Keyword being _eventually_ , Scourge. Eventually! Meaning, you weren't their puppet yet! You could have did something then! You can't defeat the inevitable but you can't worry about what might happen in the future. You have to live for the present!"

"Bastard..." Scourge's quills raised and sharpened as well, his fangs digging even more into his gums as they grew a little larger. "Don't fucking act like you know me. You don't know what I've been through! What's been done to me!"

Sonic retracted his arm and swung his fist into Scourge's jaw.

" _I don't fucking care_ what you've been through!"

...

"...Wha.."

Huh?

 _What...?_

Did he just...say that?

Scourge stumbled backwards against the iron bars of his cell, watching with wide and shocked eyes as Sonic made his case. "You think that's justified? That because you went through so much shit, you deserve a pass at being a fucking monster!? For killing so many innocent people? For hurting me, for hurting Shadow, for hurting my friends, for hurting Zonic...Destroying our worlds? Are you _joking?_ Really," Sonic repeated. "Are you joking right now!? Because you were a victim, you had to go and take out your wrath on everyone else who don't even know you!? What are you, stupid or crazy!? Don't you dare give me that damn excuse! 'Cause it's bullshit, and I will never accept that!"

Victim? Scourge's mouth twitched. _Victim._

No...

He was not a fucking victim.

"I am _not-_ " Scourge whispered. "I AM NOT A VICTIM!" He screamed. "I," Fingers started to shake against each other. "I was never a victim. And don't you fucking get my priorities screwed up." He hissed. "Like I just said, you don't know me. I'm not doing this because I got issues, I'm doing this because I'm trying to save you!"

Sonic stiffened. "What?"

The green hedgehog shoved passed him and walked a couple feet away. "I'm hurting your boyfriend because I want him to see the truth. I'm hurting your friends, because I want them to see the truth. Zonic's hurt, because he already saw the truth. I destroyed our worlds, because I saw it too. And that's why _I_ got hurt, because I didn't stay blind like you did. I killed my people, because I was already infected! It was too late for me!" He turned back around to face Sonic once more. "I'm doing all of this so I can stop your super forms, and kill off all Chaos Born once and for all. As long as the Divine Spirits are alive, no one will ever be safe! Oho yeah, and here's a fuckin' news flash for all ya'll," He pointed his thumb at himself. "You think I like talkin' about my past? You honestly thought that I expected sympathy from any of you bitches!? Hell no! I don't give a shit about that either! My wrath and detest for Zonic isn't justified because of something he couldn't control like me being in heat, it's justified because he gave up too quickly. He gave up on me, and stayed obedient for his warden and the light one until the very end! He's a joke! Why am I the one making a rebellion?! He should be helping me too! But instead, he wants to act like a pussy and kill me off like the mindless slave that he is!"

The enraged hero said nothing back as Scourge continued.

"And as for you saying I gave up too, how about you shut the fuck up? 'Cause I never gave up. If I did, I wouldn't be doing any of this!"

Sonic just shook his head at him. "IQ of over three hundred, my ass. You're so stupid." He spat. "How's this for a news flash? You _are_ a victim, jackass. You were raped for an entire week, straight. Before that, both you and Zonic were beaten. And you were nearly killed several times for a death that you'd never have. Of course I feel pity for you, but that pity-well goes but so deep considering what you're doing now! You say you want me to understand, but how the hell can I understand you if you're trying to kill me and my friends!?"

"Because I've already fucking tried to-You know what?" Scourge asked with half of a bitter smile. "Fuck this. I'm done trying to talk any sense into you anymore, Blue. This is why I don't tell people shit, because they never listen until it's too late." He made a beeline for the entrance of the room, and he waved the middle finger to everyone as he made his exit. "I thought you'd finally get it after seeing all that, but you still refuse to listen. Can't believe I had a fucking crush on you...Hope you all die of gangrene." He simply kicked the iron door down in one hit, and waltzed out.

The hero just watched him leave with a scowl, his hatred for the green hedgehog growing even more. After only a few seconds after his departure, Shadow attempted to get the hedgehog's attention. "Sonic?"

Another angry scowl. "What?"

The ultimate life form ignored his attitude. "Get over here!" He ordered with a loud and grounded tone. Sonic growled and turned to look back in his mate's direction, only to see he was by Zonic's side along with Zhadow. And so was Zespio and Zector. They were all knelt down beside him, but why? That's when Sonic's heart dropped.

Zonic was having a seizure.

Zhadow's face was darkened, while Zector and Zespio slipped their commander into their arms and stood up to carry him out. Foam dripped out of Zonic's mouth, with his eyes rolling behind his head. His hand constantly kept twitching, the rest of his body limp. Slowly, the first lieutenant pressed his fingers into his collar and called for back up. "...We've got a 10-96, I'm afraid second lieutenant general Zonic is having a seizure. I need a team of doctors ready at any available hospital room. Please ensure his safety, officers Zespio and Zectors will be escorting him." He then slumped onto the floor, lowering his head. With a heavy sigh, he dragged his hand over his face.

Sonic just stood there, feeling useless as he watched his best friend get taken away.

* * *

 **END - 42**

 **Okay, so in summation:**

 **Scourge (when he was regular anti-Sonic) apparently slaughtered as many of his people as he could and his surviving family (his father) so that he wouldn't eventually turn and hurt them by the Divine Spirits' order. In his own mind, he thought he was saving them from a painful life by giving them quick and painless deaths. That caused the rest of his world to collapse and riot, ultimately destroying it. That caused him to be arrested by the Zone Cops.**

 **Zonic (who was only a private and an inexperienced Overseer at the time), thought that tyranny and enslavement was a-okay for Chaos Born. That was until he heard Scourge's plight, who realized it was wrong. After hearing Scourge's desperation and witnessing his many failed executions, Zonic finally opened his eyes to the truth: Chaos Born were bad, but the Divine Spirits were worse.**

 **When he tried to give Scourge death, Hyper (the light one) stepped in to give them what they wanted, so long as he got what he wanted: Children from Scourge. All Chaos Born must reproduce before dying, if they can help it. They knew Scourge was trying to kill himself, but they wouldn't let that happen until he gave offsprings. He didn't, so he was denied death. After Zonic mouthed off to Hyper, Hyper decided that he wouldn't do anything and let them be. Hyper could have let Scourge reproduce painlessly and without shame, but Zonic ruined that chance.**

 **Thanks to Scourge's heat, something that no one could control, the doctors of the No Zone Asylum abused and raped him without their own knowledge. Scourge finally cracked, and killed them all. Zonic was imprisoned for irritating the Warden, and was severely beaten and tortured by other inmates by order of Zobotnik. That changed him forever. He then returned to Scourge, and gave him a way to escape. It wasn't the freedom of death, but he would at least be free of No Zone Prison. All by Hyper's order, by the way, when he learned of Scourge's rape.**

 **Scourge's Rage: He was angry because Zonic could have done more to go against the Divine Spirits or the warden, and perhaps could have saved him from being in prison any longer, or even from his rape. Zonic was too weak, and was very quick to give up back then. He blames it all on his weakness for standing up against Zobotnik, or Hyper.**

 **Sonic's Rage: He was angry because it was basically all Scourge's fault that Zonic sunk deeper and deeper into madness. Zhadow's coma, Sonic turning into Dark Sonic to force Zonic to go through the despair of losing his loved one, and finally, opening his guilty memories of the past. He blamed him for the insanity that is slowly but surely killing Zonic. He also hated how it almost seemed like Scourge was making excuses as to why he did the horrible things that he did, but this was not necessarily the case.**

 **Zonic's Guilt: He could have did more to fight back against Zobotnik, and maybe he could have done more to change Hyper's mind. But he didn't try hard enough, and he knows that. That's why he's so violent with Zobotnik now, and why he committed police brutality on inmates. He wasn't just angry because of Zhadow's coma, he was angry at himself. Everything seems like it's all his fault, constantly. And Zonic is painfully depressed to the point where he hates himself. He thinks he is a complete failure to everyone around him, and he wishes he could have saved Ogilvie before it was too late. He was also silenced from telling Sonic the truth in fear of the Divine Spirits killing everyone in No Zone, making him seem like a liar to everyone. This is why he tries so hard to support Sonic, because he does not want the same mistake happening again. **

**Well...That's ONE reason.**

 _ **The other reason...**_


	48. Look What You Made Me Do

**43 - Look What You Made Me Do**

* * *

"Shadow, let me through."

"Sonic, no. The commander's been exposed to enough chaos energy, he doesn't need to be exposed to any more."

"No, I could heal him. I'm serious!"

"I know you are, I don't question that. But you're still not getting through."

"Shadow-"

" _No,_ Sonic."

"Please!"

"No!"

"Damn it," Sonic sucked his teeth and turned away from his mate. After his argument with Scourge, the green hedgehog just up and disappeared. No one knew where he went, and the building was on lockdown. Shadow was currently standing in front of the door to the hospital room in which Zonic was laying in. There were several doctors inside who were trying to save his life, and Zhadow was inside as well. Zector and Zespio were standing across from the two hedgehogs in the hallway, briefly glancing at each other before looking back at them. They were bickering and arguing with each other for the past half hour, with Sonic begging Shadow to let him in the room so he could interrupt the doctors and heal Zonic himself with some miraculous chaos power.

The ultimate life form would not budge, he didn't want Zonic to be exposed any further. It could damage his brain even more and perhaps be the final straw, killing him. He didn't want Sonic to do that, especially since his emotions were unstable right now. Shadow just sighed at the blue one's annoyed expression. "This is for his own good."

Sonic turned back to him. "No, it's not. I'm trying to tell you-!"

"Sonic for the love of God, _stop._ " He demanded, making Sonic flinch from his tone. "After that little show you and that green prick put on, Zonic instantly had a seizure. His body fought to stay awake while you two kept surging power at each other like a couple of children playing tetherball. He couldn't take it anymore. Now his body's in critical condition, and he could _die_ in the next hour or so."

The hero slowly started to nod. "Oh, so this is my fault." He shrugged. "Okay, I get it. That's what it is."

Shadow groaned and slouched his head against the door behind him. "Chaos-I didn't even say that."

"You didn't have to say it." Sonic growled.

"See this?" Shadow asked. " _This_ is why you can't be in there. Your emotions are highly unstable, you cannot be around him right now. You'd kill him from all of your negative energy."

A vein appeared on Sonic's forehead. "Rage is what awakened Zonic's powers, and it's empowering my own. Aren't you the one who told me to embrace my emotions?"

"I told you not to reject them, yes. I didn't tell you to use them like a flamethrower anytime you felt ticked!"

"Right now, I think I'd rather use them on you!"

"And where would that get you?" Shadow retorted as Sonic paced around. "Kicked out of the HQ for causing a damn disturbance in front of their commander's medical room!"

The hero gripped the side of his head with his hand. "God damn it Shadow, why can't you understand what I'm trying to do? Why can't you trust me!? I begged you to trust me last night, did you forget that?"

* * *

 _" **I trust you, and you do make me hap-Ah! Shiiit...** " He turned away as his face colored in red. " **You do make me happy, but-Mmngh,** " He panted as Shadow came closer and closer to his sweet spot. " **Aah...But you need to trust me, too-Aahh..!** "_

* * *

A wave of both exhaustion and irritation washed over Shadow. "Yes, I remember that. I'd never forget something like that. But that doesn't excuse your behavior. If you don't calm the fuck down," Perhaps using a harsher tone would get it through Sonic's thick head. "You will kill the commander. Now do you understand?"

After being scolded by yours truly like a small child, Sonic just scoffed and looked off to the side. "...So this is how it feels to be constantly angry at everything. I see why you drink black coffee, Shadow." He casually insulted while crossing his arms over his chest. "Yup, I totally get it. After all, every single one of you...Zonic, Zhadow, Scourge, you've all just been pissing me off one by one."

Shadow was taken aback by his petty behavior. Was he being serious right now? Now really wasn't the time. He'd have to hit even lower so Sonic could get the message and back off. That's when Shadow made a strong inhale, before looking over at Zespio and Zector. "Make sure no one gets in this room, including this moron." He nodded over to Sonic as a gesture, and the two zone cops awkwardly nodded in return. Shadow then moved from the door while snatching and pulling onto Sonic's wrist.

He pulled them to the nearest bathroom, closing and locking the door behind them as he yanked the younger hedgehog in. He then stood in front of it so he couldn't leave, and leaned against it while Sonic just glared at him nearby a stall. That's when the biohog took this time to dig into his ass. "Do you know why you're too toxic to be in the same room as Zonic right now? Not just because of your premature temper, but because of those things in your body."

That made the hero face him with a clearly offended expression. He then tilted his head while tapping his fingers on the stall door. " _Oh?_ You're gonna go there now?"

"Yeah," Shadow shrugged with his harsh expression unchanging. "I am. Let's not forget Zonic's been losing his shit ever since you confronted him. He was terrified not of you or your impulsive anger, but because of those devils that hide inside of you." His voice was not loud, it was a low and forbidding hiss. "He was silenced because of one of _your_ super forms. He nearly lost Zhadow, because of _your_ super forms. He almost died himself, because of one of _your_ super forms. Now he's having a fucking seizure, because of who? Your God damn super forms. Do I need to spell it out for you? Stay. _The fuck._ Away from him, unless you want him to die!"

Sonic swear he saw red for a second. "I'm sorry, weren't you the same guy ready to kick his fucking ass for lying to me back at his office? Where did all that rage go?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes at him. "I could ask you the same, faker. We both know our anger against the commander is no longer justified considering his arm was twisted. No, more like ripped off. He had no choice but to lie to you, and you know that. If not, he and the others in this facility could have been slaughtered. And why? Because of _your super forms!_ "

The hero grit his teeth. "Just say it already." He spat.

"Say what?"

"That it's my fault, just say it!"

Shadow made a big sigh again and reached up to squeeze his fingers against the bridge of his black nose. "Maria, help me..."

Sonic punched the stall door, causing it's metal hinges to fall and the door to break off onto the toilet inside. "Shadow, you're going to make me hurt you."

"I never fucking said it was your fault, Sonic."

In seconds, he was instantly in front of Shadow, shoving an angry finger against his white furred chest. "Yeah, it is, and you know it is! You just won't say it!"

Shadow swung his hand down and gripped the hand poking it's finger into his torso. "Okay then, you want me to fucking say it!?"

"Yes!" Sonic shouted.

"Fine! _It is_ your fucking fault!"

"..."

...

Slowly, Sonic took his hand away from him, with Shadow doing the same. He then walked away to another stall and slouched against it while staring at the wall. Shadow did exactly what he wanted, and continued on. "What else do you want me to say?" The biohog added with the same volume in his voice. "That's its your fault that we have chaos energy at all? That's its your fault that Scourge exists? That it's your fault that _you_ exist? That _I_ exist!?" He yelled. "Okay fine. Maybe it is your fault that Zonic had a seizure. Maybe, it is technically your fault that Scourge exists. And maybe it's your fault that I exist since Gerald based my designs on your bloodline." That made Sonic lift his head as he lowered the volume of his voice to sound a bit more approachable. "Maybe everything that's happened up until now in some weird narrow way, _is_ your fault, Sonic. But the least you could do to fix your 'wrongs', is to leave Zonic alone and let the doctors handle it." Shadow's mouth became a permanent frown for the day. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Sonic suddenly stood up straight and walked back towards Shadow, who was still in the way of the door. "Yes." He answered in the softest, most gentle tone he could muster. His eyes no longer held anger, only acceptance, guilt and even gratitude. He then smiled at Shadow. "Thank you." He rose his hand and patted Shadow's shoulder. "Wasn't that hard, right?" He then took a few steps backwards before uttering two simple words.

Suddenly, Shadow realized what Sonic planned to do. "...Sonic-"

"Chaos control."

" _Don't-!_ "

And in a flash, he was gone.

Shadow instantly rushed out of the bathroom, looking back and forth to search for Sonic. No, he was no where around the bathroom anymore. Shadow then tried to chaos control himself by locking onto his energy. "Chaos-" Huh? "..!?" His ability to chaos control, it-It was gone! Sonic must have taken the ability away when he tapped his damn shoulder. How the hell did he even-!? No, didn't matter. He could run there and stop him! Shadow sprinted away from the bathroom, rushing down the medical halls of nurses and doctors, dodging rolling stretchers and ill patients. He made a sharp turn to the nearest corridor, the very one that held Zonic's room.

Zespio and Zector weren't there anymore. Damn it, Sonic must have forced his way in. The door was wide open, too. He could hear loud voices, and he could pick out Zhadow's from all the shouting. He was demanding for Sonic to leave. He must have been making a scene in there. Shadow skidded his movements to a halt in front of the doorway, his eyes immediately landing on the scene in front of him. Sonic had his hands help up in defense, asking for everyone to please settle down and not to disturb Zonic any further from all the noise. Before Shadow could grasp his shoulder and yank him out, the doctors, Zonic's men and Zhadow all witnessed something spectacular.

Sonic got down on one knee, his head bowed low as if he wasn't worthy. Then, before anyone else could utter a word, a blinding white mist rose into the air, radiating off of his fur like smoke. It surrounded the hero, embraced and shaped the hero's entire form. His eyes were closed, concentrating and nothing else except for the godly energy fuming from his body. Shadow could feel it, that aura was...It was out of this world, something truly amazing and beautiful. It was so powerful, so strong that he almost couldn't even feel it. That's how divine it was, it was an energy that no normal mortal could feel.

This power, why did it seem so familiar? It felt hot, yet icy. Burning, yet freezing, it was surrounding the entire room. Everyone watched in wonder as the atmosphere was coated in this mystical white gas. They all lifted their heads, watching it drift and move above them. Zonic, the only one unconscious in bed, sadly wasn't able to witness this. Shadow briefly looked away from the scene to look from the side, and realized that everyone else in the medical ward was standing cramped in this corridor. They were all watching, staring as white mist traveled down. It was like they knew something astonishing was happening inside of this room. It was attracting them, all of them. All of the soldiers, nurses and doctors, they knew something was here.

Then, in a split moment, that white energy ripped into several colors. Pink, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue-The entire rainbow was decorated with this incredible aura. Then, something else amazing happened. From within Sonic's body, more white essence formed from his figure, spreading from his back. It grew bigger, larger, floating and morphing itself to become even larger. In seconds, limbs were beginning to form. A hand, fingers, an entire arm. A white silhouette was forming from the hero, the silhouette of something grand. A torso, long quills, was it perhaps it was some kind of spirit?

No...It was-

-Another form.

 _The ultimate form._

Steadily, Sonic opened his eyes. They were no longer green, they were a vibrant, glowing hot pink. He then gradually stood up from his kneeling position, as the white silhouette forming behind him wrapped itself around him. It whispered to him, smiled at him, then it phased through him. It was possessing him-No, fusing with him. Soon, Sonic's entire body became that white silhouette, all until a proper transformation began. His royal blue fur was overrun with pure white, his muzzle and peach stomach becoming just a little paler. His quills raised up, now upturned, and grew longer. His entire body was falling backwards as the power levitated him. That blinding white light cooled down, and soon, Sonic's new body was fully revealed.

An infinite number of spectrums dazzled all throughout his body, slowly fading from one color palette to the next every couple of minutes. His eyes, his gorgeous hot pink eyes. Pink cherries, red raspberries. Any old wound or scar left on Sonic's previous body, was gone. It was all healed permanently. His quills were long enough to flow along with the colorful drifting aura, as if wind blew through his head. How long has it been since he's felt this power? How long has it been since he used this form, transforming into love, and grace itself? Ah, it's been more than ten years. He hadn't used this since he was a child. It felt so...

Good.

So good that he had to hug himself to make sure this was all real. He grasped his forearms and shoulders, feeling a faint smile grow on his face. He readjusted his eyesight in the new form, looking down beneath him to see everyone fallen on their knees and watching him with awe. They were even crying multicolored tears, they couldn't handle being in his presence. That's when Sonic-Well, _Hyper Sonic,_ realized that he probably shouldn't be in this form for long. He straightened himself up and landed down onto the tile floor gently. He then tried to reason with them all. He eyed the doctors individually, before glancing right at Zhadow, who was also forced to kneel. But he was the only one who was making himself look away.

" _Look_ ," Hyper Sonic began carefully, not wanting to scare anybody. His voice was already cryptic sounding thanks to Hyper's aura, he didn't want to creep anyone out. He had most of the control of this form, Hyper knew better than to influence him. " _I don't want to hurt anyone,_ " He said. " _I just want to heal Zonic permanently. With this power,_ " He raised his hand upwards while looking into his own palm. " _Not only can I wake him up and heal him from his seizure, but I could heal his mind too. Make it so that he's sane again. I can fix everything._ " He took one step forward. " _I could even go to your fallen comrades, and heal them too. I could..._ " He hesitated. " _I could revive them from death._ "

Suddenly, he heard a thud from behind. Hyper Sonic quickly turned around, only to see Shadow laying against the wall of the hallway outside of the room. He looked tired, he looked as if he was in pain. Damn, was it because of his power? "S...S-Sonic..."

Woah, he was definitely in some serious pain. What happened? " _Shadow?_ "

"Are you telling the truth?"

Hyper Sonic's attention was pulled back to the crowd of kneeling No Zone faculty.

Zhadow, was the one trying to fight it. He was trying to stand. "A-Are you, positive, that you can do that? All of that?" He asked with a weak tone. "Or will you just make it worse?"

The multicolored deity made a determined frown and nodded without hesitation. " _Yes, I know for a fact that I can save everyone. It won't even take long, perhaps less than an hour._ " He then forced himself to cancel out his aura so he could stop making everyone kneel like peasants for him. When everyone was finally free, they all stood up. They started to share looks of hope and upcoming joy. " _I know you don't trust Hyper, because of what he did to you and Zonic. He turned his back on him. But I'm_ _not asking you to trust him, I'm asking you to trust_ me _, the person using his power. And I'm assuring you, I can do this._ "

To that, Zhadow narrowed his eyes and turned away from his gaze. The head doctor, that duck from before, he stepped forward instead to ask the deity of his intentions. "You're still Sonic prime, right?" He asked, watching the floating hedgehog nod soon after. "And you promise to restore the lives of our men and women? Is that, is that even possible?"

Hyper nodded again with a confident smile. " _It is, and I do. A lot of this is my fault anyway, and I should take responsibility. So I'll heal Zonic first, then I'll-_ " His voice was abruptly halted. " _I...I-I'll...I..._ " His body suddenly felt extremely heavy. Zespio and Zector's eyes rose with alarm, and they instantly took their guns from their hips to aim behind him. The doctors panicked and began to back away, while Zhadow yelled for Sonic to get out of the way. It was too late, though.

Because behind him with a syringe filled with black and red energy, was Scourge, evilly grinning and laughing.

Shadow, with fading vision, tried to crawl towards the doorframe of the hospital room. He tried reaching out his hand, but it was no use. He couldn't save Sonic in time, he couldn't do it.

The green menace cackled as he watched Hyper Sonic's knees buckle.

 _...! Wait, what are you doing? Get your hands off me! Stop! No..!_

 ** _This visit was long overdue, brother._**

 _No! No, NO! YOU FOOL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? UNHAND ME...! STOP!_

He screamed in agony for a split second, before Hyper completely vanished from Sonic's body. It was like a ghost was exorcised from his body, as one could see the divine spirit lift itself from his figure with pain, until it soon disappeared. He instantly reverted back to his regular form, as if switching from the push of a button. Sonic's eyes rolled back, and he lost conscious immediately before falling backwards into Scourge's arms. " _Ooohhh_ I could never stay mad at you, Blue~!" With a big smile, he waved the hand clutching the syringe with a rigid middle finger. "Welp, you're all fucked now. And to all you folks at home, sayonara~!" Wait, who was he talking to?

Shadow reached out again, coughing up blood from his mouth. "Son..."

His arm fell, and watched a white flash fade out from his vision as he was knocked out cold.

* * *

Tails clenched his eyes shut as he made a big and powerful yawn. After sighing and covering his mouth, he looked away from the VTOL's front windows. The aircraft was on autopilot, he didn't have to keep staring out into space. He looked beside him to see Knuckles sitting comfortably in his own seat, watching the clouds. Since they were heading up to Angel Island, they'd need him to point out how close they were. The others were sitting behind them, sitting in their own seats. Amy had her own, as did Rouge, and Vanilla had Cream strapped up in her lap.

Amy had fell asleep, and Vanilla was growing tried as well. Rouge however was very up and at 'em, since creatures like herself could stay up for long hours at night. Or at least, they assumed it was nighttime again. Since the sky's been stuck in a black void of that scary red moon for weeks, they lost track of time. Since Scourge's power of this world was gone, they didn't know why that red moon was still there. Didn't matter now, though. Soon they'd be able to get into some beds with some warm blankets. Knuckles had an entire bunker built underneath the alter of the Master Emerald. There was plenty of food, non perishable foods, some appliances, chaos-working electricity that hopefully wasn't effected by Scourge, medicine, herbs, furniture and beds. He couldn't promise that there was enough for everyone, but they could easily take shifts. There were definitely enough blankets and comforters, though.

They would be okay, they would be okay.

When Tails discovered the VTOL, the anti-Omega helped him find some extra fuel in the ruins of GUN's hangar. It also helped make some repairs on the VTOL so it could work properly. They even found plenty of extra canisters, just in case something went wrong. It thankfully powered up beautifully. They took that, some supplies that were left in the building, and booked it inside of the aircraft. Speaking of said robot, the anti-Omega was flying beside the large aircraft so it wouldn't take up any space. It assured Tails that if it saw something amiss, it'd contact him through the aircraft's radio system. It could easily hack it, and speak to him from there. Fiona was also trapped inside of it's body, so she was still their hostage.

It wouldn't take them long now, Tails was positive they were close to Angel Island.

He hoped Sonic was okay. He hadn't talked to him in almost a couple days, now. He tried contacting Sonic some hours ago, but there was no answer. He had to trust that his big bro didn't get himself killed, and that he was fine. Besides, Shadow was there. He would protect him, right?

Sigh...

Tails closed his eyes and sat back against his chair, hoping to fall asleep as well. He barely heard Knuckles whisper something, he was already nodding off.

"Soon, I'll help put an end to this madness."

* * *

 _ **Many Hours Later**_

Shadow woke up with a start.

"..!"

He instantly sat up, looking around himself in all directions before trying to get up and run-Shit, he tripped and fell. The fuck was that about? He grunted and lifted himself up carefully this time. Damn, his arms felt weird and tingly. He realized he fell on cold tile floor, and that there was a hospital bed beside him. Must have been what he fell out of, he was put in another medical room. He tried moving his legs, shifting his eyes directly in front of him. A door, he could get out and get Sonic- _Shit._ God damn it, what was wrong with his legs? They felt weird and tingly too. Something was making his body move oddly, but he had to push passed that and get Sonic! Even if it meant he had to crawl there!

He heard footsteps leading to this room, and saw shadows underneath the door. Soon, that same door swung open to reveal first lieutenant Zhadow. He quickly looked down below to Shadow's level, before kneeling down and holding out a hand. Shadow grasped it, and he was held up onto his feet. He thanked him, "Thanks," before trying to push passed him out that door. Zhadow immediately stepped in front of him and seized his arm while shaking his head. The biohog scowled and tried moving forward by him again, until he nearly lost balance. He thankfully landed his hand near the wall of the doorway, but he still kept trying to move forward. That's when Zhadow stopped him once again, agitating Shadow even further. "Damn it, let me through!"

"Chaos, is everyone from your reality stubborn and hard-headed? No." He simply replied. The top prison guard of No Zone put his arms by his sides and made it clear that he wasn't moving yet.

A vein instantly popped under Shadow's skull. "Are you fucking insane, too!? He took Sonic! I need to get him back!" This was bad, and this was an incredibly dire situation. Sonic, the single most powerful person in the multiverse, was unconsciously being dragged around by some psychotic, homicidal, leather wearing scum-sucking brat, who couldn't differentiate between love and rape. Now was _not_ a fucking time to stay calm! Even still, Zhadow wouldn't move. "Get out of my damn way. I _need_ him! I need to-"

"How are you even going to get there? Nothing is working. No warp rings, you can't warp out yourself, and Sonic had all but one of your emeralds." He tightened his own frown and narrowed his eyes at his counterpart. "There's nothing you can do."

Shadow instantly threw that nonsense out of the window. "Bullshit. I'll find a damn way to get to him, even if it kills me. The fate of all of our worlds, perhaps even more, rests on him being alive and well. Not to mention, he's mine and I'm supposed to keep him safe no matter what." His fangs grew while his teeth clenched, red chaos energy rising from his person. "I will _never_ let that son of a bitch hurt him again! He'll have to kill me first!"

After hearing that much passion and anger just from uttering the very concept of Sonic being kidnapped, Zhadow realized there could be no stopping Shadow after this. He sighed and closed his eyes, before stepping to the side from the doorway. "Fine." He said. "When Sonic prime transformed into the light one, _Hyper_ , his energy was so great that it traveled all around the building. It repaired and restored anything we had damaged or broken." He opened an eye to Shadow. "In other words, our warp rings are fixed. Plus, the anti-Sonic never cut off your ability to warp to his own realm, so you should be able to get there as well with just one chaos emerald."

Wait, what? Why the sudden change of heart? Shadow was a bit taken aback by that.

"As his energy spread, it effected all of us. It made all of our bones shaky and wobbly, that's why you're having a hard time standing." That would explain the weird tingly feeling. "His power was indeed able to bring Zonic back from his critical state. Little did he know, he didn't even have to do anything. Just standing in the room was enough to heal him." He opened both eyes and looked down at his own boots. "Now he's asleep, but he's absolutely fine. I don't know if he restored his sanity, but I'm grateful enough." He then scowled and gripped his military uniform. "How that little shit was able to knock him out even in that form, is beyond me."

He had a syringe with him, a syringe filled with that demonic chaos energy. That must have canceled out Sonic's transformation, but how? Wasn't that his most powerful one? Wasn't it stronger than the demon? Or, were they equally matched? Questions for later. "How long has it been since Scourge took Sonic?"

Zhadow gave him a grimace. "We concluded that the anti-Sonic mind controlled you into thinking he beat you to a pulp, coughing up blood. In reality, he didn't touch you. That much mental trauma caused you to black out for around," He knew he wouldn't like this answer. "Approximately twenty-two hours."

 _Twenty-two_ fucking hours? "What!?" That's almost an entire day, wasted.

"Yeah, you were out for a while. But look," Zhadow slipped his fingers into the breast pocket up his military top and slipped out a miniature warp ring. "I had the hackers and engineers resize one of the ones we have. Use this to warp to Moebius, and get Sonic prime back. I also had the hackers address the ring for coordinates back to our world and to your world as well, just in case something goes wrong." He handed the ring over to Shadow, who took it with care. "One more thing." He added with a serious tone. "I know that once you get to Moebius, you and Scourge may engage in combat. But I warn you Shadow prime, he is not to be taken lightly. That fight you both had back in the war was just a preview, he is one thousand times stronger than that. Please," He grasped his shoulders and tightened his hold while looking him dead in the eyes. "Be careful. But most importantly," Then, he told him something strange.

"...?"

"...Do what my commander did, and _open your eyes._ Do that, and you will see the complete truth." He murmured. And then, he let go of him and took a few steps back. He saluted him, before beginning to walk out the door.

Shadow tried to stop him. "What...What the hell does that mean?"

Zhadow stopped for a brief moment. Without turning around, he said something else rather odd. "Let's just say, Zonic isn't as crazy as we thought." And with that, kept moving. "It was interesting meeting you. Godspeed, my friend." He bid his final farewell, and disappeared down the hall of the medical ward.

 _"Do what my commander did, and open your eyes. Do that, and you will see the complete truth."_

What did any of this mean? He was confused and he hasn't even been awake for a full fifteen minutes. He sighed, there was no helping it. He looked down at the ring in his hand, before clutching it with a death grip. His limbs felt fine to move now, there'd be no stopping him from getting to Sonic. He had the green chaos emerald in his quills, he could warp.

One, two, three-

 _Sonic, I'm coming for you._

* * *

Holy shit.

His eye lids felt so damn heavy, he could barely keep them open. His blue ears flattened significantly, he was in so much pain. He could barely move without cringing. It felt like he was hit with a train wreck, that was just hit by a jet, that was on fire. His eyesight was woozy, he felt so dizzy. And his hearing, everything was way too damn loud. Or maybe way too muffled and quiet, he couldn't even tell. That's how out of whack his body felt right now. His feet felt as if there was some weight gone from them. Were his shoes off? He tried surveying his surroundings in the best way he could. He could feel that he was laying on something rather soft, maybe a bed. His vision was blurry, but he could tell he was in some dark room with no windows.

When he looked upwards at the wall in front of him, he could just barely make out some sign that hung up on the...

...Oh no.

No, no, no no no no no...

 _No, please...No..._

 _'HOME SWEET HOME'_

He closed his eyes shut and prayed that this was all a nightmare. Please, please let this be some fucked up nightmare. No, the pain told otherwise, this was real. God damn it, was he cursed or something? He carefully tried opening his eyes again, with his vision getting a little better after moistening them. He could make things out now. He tried moving his head to look around, which caused him a horrible headache with each turn. Okay, he was definitely on a bed. But this was different. Last time, there was a normal full sized mattress. But this? This looked like some kind of king-sized canopy. No, bigger. Maybe an ace-sized mattress. The red velvet curtains of the canopy was draped all around him, and they weren't drawn.

Let's see, the rest of the room looked a lot better than it did previously. No torture tools, no table filled with icepicks and monkey wrenches drenched in blood. That mirror was still there, but there was something else. There was a...A fire place? Hmm, it was put out though. There was a set of two love seats in front of it, along with a thick wooded coffee table. A thick expensive looking rug, several paintings that were covered up with black drapes for some reason. The walls looked newly painted, and the floor looked way too glossy to be dark oak hardwood. He looked up and saw a-Woah. Was that a chandelier? He could also see a closet and a dresser, that had panties falling out of it. Was a woman here recently? There were three entrances, too. One with double doors, and two with a single door. One of those single doors might have led to a bathroom, but what about the other?

The sheets below him were silky and smooth, and it actually smelled pretty good in here. Actually, he swore he smelled perfume and make up. Yeah, a woman was definitely in here recently. He tried to make himself sit up, but he couldn't. His head was stuck laying against these huge cloud-like pillows. If it wasn't for the situation at hand, he could fall asleep on this bad boy. His ear twitched. Was music playing? It sounded like classical. He looked directly to the right side of the bed, to see a record player sitting on a tall nightstand. Ew, gross. Who used one of those anymore?

The double doors to the room creaked, and slipped open.

A familiar shadow stood in the doorway, a bright light leading from out the hall shining upon them. They shut the doors closed, before locking them and walking to the bed slowly. The clicking of the heels didn't sound like good ol' Zonic wearing his military boots to strike fear in criminals, no. That sounded like a tyrant, ready to step and curb stomp all over the heads of the innocent. He could see that they were wearing something black, some kind of uniform. Suddenly, they stopped in front of the canopy and clapped their hands twice.

Suddenly, light illuminated both the room and the mysterious person.

The light was so bright that he had to blink a couple times, before readjusting them and landing them on the person standing in front of the bed. And of course, it was- "...Scourge."

"Heeeeyyy sleepyhead." He greeted sweetly. He made a rather light hearted smile and tilted his head while leaning his hand closer. He caressed the side of his face, his thumb grazing over his bottom peach lip. "You awake, Sonic? Hope I didn't disturb you."

Sonic's voice felt so hoarse, he could barely speak. It hurt to talk any more than this. "...Wha...Where..."

"Where are you? Well," Scourge took a seat beside his body, a little too close for his tastes. And what was he wearing? "You're in my castle of course, but you're in my bedroom. Don't ya remember?" He then twisted his mouth into a frown. "Damn, probably not. You were under my control when you slept with me in here, when you were Dark Sonic."

Oh God, not _that_. He'd give anything to never remember that torture ever again. But now he'd just relive that nightmare all over again in his regular form, lucky him. "Why...Why can't..." He couldn't finish any sentence he started, it was too difficult for him.

Scourge thankfully understood what he meant. "Why can't you move? I injected some of Fleetway's power inside of you, in your weak spot. Not your smexy sweet spot, your chaotic weak spot. You know how mine is in my stomach? We're opposites, so yours," His anti-self pointed to his own back as a gesture. "Is in your back. Right in the middle of your spine." That would explain why he felt like garbage right now. Not only did he hit him in his chaotic weak spot, but he injected that demon's venom into his bloodstream like a narcotic. Hyper was insanely strong, but their transformation could be easily broken if the energy of a conflicting power source coursed through his veins.

Sonic just grimaced even more than he already did, this was miserable. Fleetway's corrupt and nightmarish power was so toxic, it paralyzed him. That's why he couldn't move without feeling as if pins and needles were stabbing at him. How the hell was he supposed to get himself out of this mess?

Damn. Why didn't he just listen to Shadow?

"Alright Blue, come on. Don't go off thinkin' 'what can I do?' You ain't gettin' outta here anytime soon, so just get comfortable." Bastard read his fucking mind. That's when Sonic lowered his gaze to his attire. Again, what the hell was he wearing? Scourge blinked, before realizing what the problem was. "Oh! You're staring at my clothes. Ha," He pulled at them. "I know I know, they're kinda tacky." Seriously. "But it's one of my dad's kingly outfits. A royal jacket, a gold trimmed button up top, matching slacks and toe-pinching kingly shoes. And it's all black, lucky me!" He said in delight. "Now, you might be wondering, 'Oi, where's your cape and junk?' Let this be a lesson to you specifically Blue. As a hero, never, _ever,_ wear a cape or cloak. They're dangerous and can yank right into a wind turbine, shredding you like a mince-meat meat-pie."

Okay, he seriously didn't ask for all of that useless ass information.

Scourge blew out some air and scratched behind his head, his hands still very bare. "My crown's in the throne room, don't feel like wearin' it right now. Oh," He turned to Sonic directly. "By the way, don't worry. Most of the servants here died in the No Zone war, so you don't gotta worry about strangers wanderin' around or mistreating you. There's a few chefs and maids, but they're mind fucked right now." He smiled warmly at him again, letting his fingers glide across his muzzle. Sonic couldn't even move his face away. He just tried closing his eyes, attempting to ignore it. "Man, you're so beautiful. I see why Stripes fucks ya like a blue-balled rabbit."

"..."

"Shit, and the way you cursed me out in that metal room," Scourge's tone became airy and hot, his brows furrowed as his muzzled reddened. "I'm still all hot and bothered from that, ya know? No one's ever snapped back at me like that before, not even Fiona." He dragged his black painted nails over Sonic's face, digging a little harder and causing some pain. Sonic winced, his body flinching. "Oops," Scourge stopped himself and took his hand away. "Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you already. You're just so," He closed his legs shut and covered the side of his own muzzle. " _Ah..._ " His forehead started to sweat, his grin stretching into a sneer. "You are _so_ fucking hot." He bit one of his own fingers, gnawing on the nail as his lustful eyes gazed deep into his soul. "If I could just fuck you right here in this bed, I think I could die happy. Shit, I'm already hard thinking about it. It doesn't even matter that you're paralyzed, I could drive myself in and out of you over and over-"

Something caused him to stop.

He took his hand away from his mouth and looked away, no longer smiling. "Shit," He mumbled. "The hell was I just doing?" He said. He shook his head to clear out anymore crazy thoughts, before looking back over at Sonic and giving him a reassuring smile. "I know I'm a little, _off_ ," Understatement of the millennia. "But I'm gonna try my best not to hurt you or take advantage of you, alright? After seeing you and Stripes be all lovey dovey towards each other, I think I finally understand how this whole relationship thing works. I made a list here somewhere..." He patted himself down, before realizing he didn't have his phone on him. "Oh wait." He then snapped his finger and watched as scarlet red chaos energy appeared, before materializing into a complete smart phone. "Ah, there we go."

Was he actually serious right now? Sonic mustered the strength to roll his damn eyes.

"I wrote it down in my notes, super handy. Okay, rule one: 'Don't beat the fucking shit out of the person you're in love with.'" He turned to Sonic again. "That's a hard one, but I'm gonna try my best!" He exclaimed while pumping up a fist. "Rule number two: 'Don't rape them.'" Sonic's eyes widened at that. Jesus, what the fuck was his problem? That was not funny, but something told the hero that Scourge wasn't even joking. "That should be a no brainer, okay." At least he knew that wasn't normal. Sweet Chaos, how fucked up was he? "Rule three: 'Don't yell at them.' Right, no yelling. Hm," He stood up from the bed with his phone in his hand, reading the screen carefully as he began to walk away. "I need to add a few more rules, maybe look some stuff up online."

Wait, was he actually just going to leave him here like this?

"Don't worry Blue," He spoke as if he read his mind again. "You'll be stuck like that for less than an hour from now, then you'll be able to move. Don't even think about breaking outta here, none of your super forms can help you right now. Dark and Super are too weak, and Hyper's taking a nap from that failed transformation. Just in case you try anything funny, I'm putting a chaos barrier on this entire room so you can't leave or use your powers." He took his eyes away from his phone and glanced at Sonic. "Sorry, them's the breaks. Oh and I know you're probably getting hungry. I'll make get ya some food, have the chefs make you one of them chillidogs or whatever. After all, I can't cook for dick." He waved goodbye while lightly singing. "See ya later Blue~!"

He walked to the double doors, unlocked them, and walked right back out as if he was never here.

That's when Sonic took in a deep breath. If he was stuck here, the least he could do was get his limbs working again.

He'd have to wiggle his big toe, first.

* * *

 **END - 43**

 **Kill Bill reference.**


	49. Captured Again

**44 - Captured Again**

* * *

"Make sure there's enough onions, he likes that shit. Don't be skimpy with the chili-And will you put the wiener in that damn bun already? It's done!" Man, ordering idiots around was never this hard before. Was he off his game in mind control? Eh, it didn't feel like it. Maybe their brains were too puny to take orders correctly. The mind controlled chefs were hard at work preparing Sonic his favorite dish, but they were taking too damn long. What if Blue starved from how incompetent these bastards were? Geez.

Scourge sighed and walked away from one of the stainless stoves and out of the kitchen momentarily. He looked over his smart phone once again, eyeing the screen of the many rules he added since his talk with Blue. It's been about an hour, but that was enough time for him to put more reasonable rules to his digital notes. He loved Sonic, and he wanted him to fall in love with him, too. He saw online that another good thing to do in relationships was to do nice things for them, like get them gifts or things they might want. He bought things for Fiona before, so this was easy. But Sonic? What would he want? To escape, sure, but he couldn't do that. Hmm, Blue was still pretty lost on everything that was going on. Maybe he could give him the gift of knowledge? Nah, maybe not.

That's when something vibrated in his green quills. The hell? Oh right, he forgot he stole that tablet from off of Sonic's body. He reached his arm up and pulled it from out of his head. He looked at the screen and realized someone was calling it. Wait, how? Tch, must have been using the universal wi-fi or something. For shits and giggles, he'd answer it. He swiped his thumb right to answer the call, only to see a disgustingly familiar face. Ugh, it was his kid. That dumb ass fox boy and the rest of Sonic's dumb friends.

An evil smirk drew onto his muzzle. Scourge's eyes glinted red, and he completely changed his appearance in an instant. His fur was blue, his eyes were green and his scars were gone. He then proceeded to place the tablet down and take off his royal top. After he tossed it onto the red carpet floor, and picked the tablet back up. With his face fully in view, he saw the fox glancing from the screen to something in front of him. He looked like he was moving, and he heard some shuffling. They must have been walking somewhere, but where? Wasn't Mobius filled with angry blood thirsty zombies by now? Ah shit, but they disrupted his connection.

 _"Hey Sonic,"_ The kitsune said. _"Is everything alright? You didn't answer the last time I called."_

Scourge-Err, _'Sonic'_ , cleared his throat and readjusted his vocal chords. "Hey lil' buddy." Ha, that was perfect. "Everything's, _okay_ as of now. Can't say good."

The vulpine's eyes dilated a bit, and he frowned. _"Really? Why? Did something else bad happen in No Zone?"_

"Yeah, something like that. Scourge escaped and," He pretended to scowl and grit his teeth in anger. "He gave Zonic a seizure."

Tails immediately stopped walking and nearly dropped his own device. _"Wait, what? Is he okay!?"_

'Sonic' shook his head and made a sorrowful expression, a grimace filled with a tearjerking despair. "I'm afraid not, lil' bro. He's in critical condition, not doing so good. Doctors are doing everything they can to fix him up. Shadow and I are gonna go chase after that faker pretty soon."

The kid growled under his breath. _"That Scourge...He's such a jerk! You better mess him up good!"_

"Don't worry kiddo, that's the plan." He reassured him for good measure.

 _"Hey, where are you right now? Is, is that a kitchen?"_

No worries, he had a good cover up for that, too. "Yeah, I'm in one of the kitchens in the facility. I'm grabbing Shads and I some food before we split."

This made the fox go 'Hmm,' as if he was thinking about something. _"How come? Is he tired?"_ Tired? Why would he ask that? Maybe because food restored energy? Yeah, that must have been it.

'Sonic' shrugged. "He was just a little peckish, wanted a quick bite. But now that I think about it, he seemed a little winded earlier. Scourge did a little damage before he barreled himself out. Nobody except Zonic is seriously hurt, though."

 _"..."_ Why'd he go quiet? He heard a lot of shuffling, as if they were stepping on grass. Must have been walking through a forest or something. But what forest would they be walking to? Everything should be destroyed by now, even if his control was gone. _"Hey, Sonic?"_

"Yeah?"

 _"Is Shadow with you right now?"_

"Nope, he's in the hospital room with Zonic." That kid asked way too many questions, but perhaps that's what being a kid's all about. Asking questions, gathering information like a sponge to soak it all up into their prepubescent brains. "Where are you? I hear a bunch of shuffling. You're not outside, are you? It's dangerous out there." Yeah, show more concern like the good big brother he is. "Don't want you gettin' hurt, you know. You should get back to GUN HQ-"

A small chuckle echoed from the other line. It sounded rather cute and innocuous, at first. Soon, that chuckle warped into a spiteful short laugh. _"Man, I don't know if you're freaking stupid, or if you just think I am."_ That's when Tails put the tablet directly in front of his face. He made an unimpressed frown, his eyes lowly narrowed with a nasty looking scowl. _"No, I think you're just a full-fledged idiot."_

'Sonic' blinked several times. The hell did that little shit just say? He was more than positive that he didn't normally mouth off to Sonic like this, what was his problem? Unless- _Shit!_ Did he figure it out that fast? Scourge continued to try and play it cool. "Woah, what's with the attitude? Did I say something?"

Tails began to look bored of this call. _"Yeah, you said just a little too much. Moron."_ Okay, if he insulted him one more time- _"Geez, I don't know why you guys always try the Sonic disguise schtick. It never works. Eggman couldn't do it, Metal Sonic couldn't do it, and_ you _can't do it."_ He scoffed. _"What are you, some kind of loser? Why are you so obsessed with my brother? Get a life."_

Alright, enough was enough. With an eye twitch and a slowly grinning sneer, Scourge's eyes glinted red. "Damn brat, figuring it out so fast." He reverted himself back into his regular green furred form, and moved to pick his top up from off the floor. He cleared his throat to put his vocal chords back in their regular places. "So what gave me away, runt?"

" _First off, Shadow doesn't eat for pleasure. He only eats when he absolutely needs to, like if he's low on chaos energy. Or if it's a special occasion, like a party. Otherwise, food is useless to him. So when you said he was 'peckish', I knew that was a lie. He doesn't get 'hungry' and this is no time to celebrate."_ Okay, to be fair, there was no way he could have known that one. And the kid sounded way too uppity and arrogant. Looks like the apple didn't fall too far from the tree if ya shake the damn thing hard enough. _"Not only that, but I already told Sonic where we were going the first time we talked. In fact, he's the one who told me to get outside and go to a specific place. Yet you just told me that I should get back to GUN HQ and that I shouldn't be outside."_ Fuck, he completely forgot the possibility of Sonic contacting the little bastard beforehand. Who knows what they talked about? And the boy was smart, he wouldn't tell where Sonic told him to go to back in Mobius. He was slick, Sonic raised him well.

Fine, he lost this one. Scourge nodded a few times. "I get it, I get it. Guess I didn't stalk Sonic long enough to know all that."

 _"And you know something else, creep?"_ Wait, there was more? _"You probably already know this but, you know Sonic's totally in love with Shadow, right?"_ Scourge squinted his eyes. He knew damn sure Sonic more than likely didn't tell Tails about their relationship as of yet. They _just_ hooked up, and now was not the time to tell others about a new controversial relationship. Especially not to a young kid like him. Sonic would keep that away from him until the time was right.

With a pause, Scourge frowned. "How do _you_ of all people know that?"

Tails chuckled. _"Tch, easy. I know my big bro better than anyone else he's ever met. Even you, obviously. For one, Sonic's bisexual. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, not with the way he flirts around people. Anyway, Sonic's been acting weird around Shadow for a while, but our first call confirmed my suspicions. I'm not gonna go into details since it simply isn't your damn business,"_ Mouthy little fucker. _"So I'll simplify my point for you. Rouge asked a nice lady we have with us named Vanilla, to give Shadow a message."_

"And the message was?"

 _"It was a silent message. She made a heart shape with her hands, then pointed to Sonic. Shadow took the tablet and gave two thumbs up, then he smirked."_ And speaking of which, Tails made a know-it-all smirk. _"In other words, he_ scored _. He and Sonic 'sealed the deal'."_ Now that blew Scourge's freakin' mind to pieces. He was under the impression that Tails was just some scrawny, scared little Einstein who couldn't fend for himself. He thought he was naive, that he didn't know as much as he should. But hell, he was a lot more clever then he let on. Sonic probably didn't even realize the kid was this smarmy. _"I already knew Shadow had a thing for Sonic and vice versa because of how much time they spent together. You stalk Sonic, right? So I'm positive you already know how close the two got before they even hooked up. They thought I wouldn't notice anything, but I did. There were a lot of close calls, but they always stopped before I caught them in the act. Heck, I almost caught them kissing in my own house."_

Shit. When it came to knowing everything about Sonic, Scourge really was beat. He felt a little small right now. "You know somethin'?" Scourge suddenly said. "I like ya, runt. I thought you were just some annoying little brat, but you're actually seriously terrifying." He leered at the screen. "I respect that. You're gonna be a doozy when you're my age. You're an analyzer, and you calculate people as math equations just like I do. Maybe you'll become as powerful and crazy as me one day."

Tails rolled his eyes. _"Please, don't compare yourself to me. Unlike you, I've got a life and genuine friends to pull me away from a bad road. Look,"_ He suddenly sat down and placed the tablet in his lap. Where he was sitting, Scourge couldn't tell, but he knew he was still outside somewhere. _"I'm twelve, not five. I turn thirteen this year. Meaning, I'm not that naive. More importantly, I know Sonic, and I know how he gets when he's around someone he likes. There's no doubt in my mind that he really digs Shadow. I don't know Shadow all that well, but he's not that hard to figure out either. I know about Maria, and I know how pissed he gets when someone messes with people he cares about."_

"Aaaand?"

 _"The point is this,"_ The fox said. _"I know your game, and I know just how infatuated you are with Sonic. I don't know where you have him, but I can take a wild guess. Doesn't matter where you hold him captive, though. Because Shadow's going to find you. And when he does, he's going to murk you with that crap-bowl you call a crown, and beat you within an inch of your life."_ Before his eyes, the kid revealed his feral side to Scourge. His voice was so wrought with heinous detest and just, pure hatred. It was beautiful. _"You'll wish you never lusted after my big brother, you twisted, sadistic, callous, cheeky-talking shit lord!"_ Ooohh! What a burn.

Scourge chuckled at the little one's attempt to be a grown up. "Anything else you wanna say to me, 'lil' buddy'?"

That's when the vulpine sneered right back. _"Yeah, just one little thing, bro. Something else that proved you weren't the real Sonic."_ That sarcasm was just sizzling on his tongue. _"FYI, Sonic's got a hickey underneath his chin, and he's got a bite mark on the back of his right shoulder. Guess where he got those from, genius?"_ He made a phony expression of shock. _"Oh right, definitely not you."_ ...What? Sonic had a hickey? And a bite mark? _"They were pretty faded, but he couldn't fool me. He probably messed around with Shadow the night we had our first call."_ When the hell did that-

* * *

 _" **Ahh...Ah...Mmhm, right there, right there...!** " Shadow smushed his tongue onto the middle of his throat, and sucked against his weak point mercilessly. " **Oh God-! Yes!** " His tossed his head back against the wall, his body thrusting into the elder as his spine curled with his legs raising upwards. Shadow sank his teeth into the side of his neck, shoving his fingers into the wall so hard, he made indentations._

* * *

...That little mother fucker-!

 _"Hope you and Shadow have fun, loser."_ And with that, the tablet hung up.

Wow.

That kid, was _fucking rad._

Damn, why couldn't Miles be that awesome!? Tails is like, literally a damn miniature badass. He totally got his smart mouth from Sonic, and his jabs were perfect! Shit, he's glad he didn't get killed when Mobius went to shit. Then again, Sonic probably taught him better than that. It'd take a whole lot more than that to kill him off, it seemed. To think some twelve-year old little punk like him actually had an edge to him. And to think he'd get under his skin so easily. He was just like Scourge! He was an analyzer, he read through people, he could calculate people easily. Sonic would be proud to know he just cursed out his worst enemy like a landlord to a broke house tenant.

Talk about puberty, huh? His fluffy balls must be in the middle of dropping.

Anyway, there was one thing the kid got wrong. Technically. When Sonic turned into Hyper, he more than likely healed that hickey and bite mark he mentioned. Of course, there was no way the kid would know that Sonic transformed, but still. Speaking of which, Tails was right. Scourge had to step his game up. He didn't know nearly as much about Sonic as he thought he did. He needed to do more research.

For now though, he'd get those chefs to finish that damn food. Oh, and he should break this damn thing.

Didn't that kid contacting him again.

* * *

The door to the echidna's underground bunker opened, before shutting back soon after.

Tails was just about to walk away from it with his laptop in hand, until Knuckles brushed passed him to make an exit. The fox noticed this, and tried to stop him to ask just where he planned on going at a time like this. "Woah, Knuckles? What are you-?"

"It's not obvious?" The guardian asked as he placed his glove onto the metal handle. "If Sonic's going to be fighting that bastard, he's gonna need all the help he can get." He turned to face Tails, his purple eyes shining with resolve. "Now that I'm back on my island, I can get in contact with M.E., and maybe even talk with _her_ again."

He didn't need to elaborate anymore than he had to. Tails instantly knew what he was talking about, which gave him a small glimmer of hope. "You don't mean..."

Knuckles nodded. "I do. I know Sonic has all the emeralds already, but with **_Tikal's_** help, I might be able to get them to become the Super Emeralds so he can turn into Hyper Sonic." He said. "Hyper Sonic is the strongest power Sonic has, and I know for sure he'd be able to crush that creep if he could transform."

Some of that hope in Tails' eyes became conflicted with doubt. "But, what about what Fiona said? Those super forms are evil."

The guardian made a small grunt to that. "I know, but there's still a lot we don't understand." He took his hand from the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "Even if they are bad, they're using Sonic as a host like a puppet, right? So they can't have him dead. I'm sure Scourge is just as much of a pain in the ass to them as he is to Sonic, so there's no reason why they shouldn't help him power up to kill him."

"But something's up with that, too." The vulpine replied worriedly. "Let's not forget that Scourge stole one of Sonic's forms. If that was the case, why would one of them willingly let Scourge take them out of him?" From the look on Knuckles' face, Tails could tell that the echidna wasn't buying that.

He just shook his head stubbornly, his dreadlocks swishing left to right. "Look, Tails. I dunno if you remember this since you were pretty young when it happened, but do you recall when Sonic first transformed into Hyper?"

Of course he did, that was the most magical and amazing day of his life. Sonic was so powerful, so elegant and just... _Marvelous._ That was maybe the most beautiful thing he's ever witnessed in his life. "Of course I do, it was amazing. He was so, awesome."

"Exactly. Maybe that demon and Dark Sonic were evil, but I don't believe that Super or Hyper is. They're too, pure to be evil." He turned back to the door to grasped the handle once again, but this time, turning and opening it. He hesitated before stepping out to tell the fox one more thing. "Sonic gets on my damned nerves, but you're _both_ my brothers. I've got more faith in him than that." That made the fox's blue eyes widen considerably. Wow, he's never talked about Sonic like this before. "I refuse to sit here and do nothing while he could be in trouble fighting some asshole who wants to get in his pants. The only crutch he has is Shadow, and I barely trust him either. Besides, he's no where near as strong as Sonic when it comes to chaos energy. That help isn't going to last forever." He began walking out, while shutting the door behind him. "Don't wait up for me, I'll be fine."

And with that, the door shut.

...Tails cracked a smile anyway.

Even after all this, he still believed in his big brother.

He walked away from the door, traveling to the living room of the bunker where most of their friends were. Rouge was laying on a couch, Amy was sitting beside her with her eyes closed. She probably fell asleep again. Vanilla was in the guest room, where Cream laid unconscious in bed. Fiona was still inside of Omega, who was on standby near the coffee table. Rouge was still awake, as a nocturnal Mobian and full-time government spy. The white bat saw the preteen walk to the floor, sitting down to look at the laptop in his hands. Earlier, the fox had left while contacting Sonic.

She crossed her legs and leaned back. "You alright, honey?"

The vulpine nodded. "I tried calling Sonic but," He furrowed his brows, but didn't say anything else.

Rouge pressed on. "But?"

"...It was Scourge."

She immediately scowled. "You're kidding."

"'Wish I was. That jerk tried disguising himself as him, but he couldn't play that game with me again. I saw right through him."

"Did he tell you anything useful?"

Tails shook his head. "No, he wouldn't have told me anyway." He pushed the laptop on the surface of the coffee table, knowing full well that he wouldn't be talking to Sonic in a while. "All I know is that Sonic more than likely was captured again since Scourge answered his tablet. I have no idea where Shadow is. I'm positive he took Sonic to his castle." He sighed and sadly closed his eyes. "I'm worried, but I still have faith in Shadow. He'll save him."

Rouge rose her hand up to her lips, biting the edge of her gloved thumb as she growled. "So Big Blue's in trouble again. Great. Still, we've gotta trust that Shadow will get to him in time before that green snot does anything crazy."

"Yeah..."

The bat took her thumb from her mouth, and looked over at the preteen. "Do you know where Red went?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah, he went to the Master Emerald to do something. He said there's a way he can help Sonic remotely."

Rouge sighed. "...I see. Look, sweetie?" She asked as his expression shrouded in distress. "You should get some rest. You've done a lot today, you'll pass out if you don't."

"But-"

"You've got bags under your eyes, no buts." She stood up from the couch and nodded over to her now empty spot. "I'll go outside for a while, you can sit with Amy." She gave him a small smile. "There's food in the fridge, you should get yourself something to eat, too."

The boy genius looked down at the laptop. He gave it one last stare, before tearing his eyes away and moving to sit on the couch beside the pink hedgehog. He looked up at the bat woman as she walked towards the entrance of the bunker which led to a ladder. She was probably going to talk to Knuckles. "Thanks, Rouge." He said softly.

In return, she gave him a single pat on the head. "Don't mention it."

As she went away, Tails felt his eyes grow heavy. Before he realized a minute had passed, he closed them and fell into a deep slumber.

A deep, empty slumber.

* * *

His stomach was aching.

It had only been a couple of hours, why did his stomach hurt so much? He felt like he was starving. When Scourge forced Hyper out of his body, he might have did a lot worse than drain all of his energy. He could have put Sonic's entire body out of whack. The hero could definitely move better now, but to a painful cost. Every movement he made was nearly agonizing. His bones ached, they creaked painfully. He felt incredibly fatigued, felt as if he never drunk a drop of water at any time of his life, felt like his stomach caved in from starvation, and that he couldn't barely speak or breathe. He couldn't communicate with Hyper at all. Anytime he did, all he heard were pained grunts and moans from his end. He didn't just need food and water, he needed chaos energy, and he needed Hyper back.

Most of all, he needed Shadow.

Sonic couldn't even break out of this room if he wanted to, he was too weak to keep his lungs pumping with oxygen. He felt like a zombie. Damn, was this how Scourge felt whenever he was in his heat cycle? He sat up in the canopy bed, his eyes drained and bloodshot. If Shadow were here, he would have given him any little thing Sonic needed. Food, water, chaos energy, comfort, security, love...He would have given him the world and so much more. He knew Shadow would try and come after him, but how? No Zone's warp rings are still damaged, and Shadow couldn't warp here without any chaos emeralds. Sonic had them all stashed away in time and space after the war. Damn it, why didn't he listen to him for once? Why did he always have to fight him on something? Shadow was right, he should have never tried to intervene with Zonic's health-

...You know what? No.

Sure, it may have been a terrible time to try and be a hero then, but he still had to do _something_. Sonic had to ability to make things right, there was no reason not to try it. He didn't know that would happen, he didn't know he'd get kidnapped. All he knew, was that Hyper's power was fully powered up and he could use it to revive Zonic and his fallen men. He'd do it all over again if it meant getting his buddy back alive and well. He had to stop blaming himself for things he couldn't control. Yes, this was not entirely his fault.

But there was one thing for certain: He would never give up hope. He had to believe in Shadow, believe that he'd bust in and get his ass out of here. And if not, he'd believe in himself. Believe in a strong chance that he could somehow escape on his own. Stay positive, destroy negativity. If he continued to do that, he could make it out of here in one piece-

"Hey baby."

 _Oh God._

The sound of the double doors to the king's bedroom opening and closing, shattered his thought process. Sonic exhaled slowly, silently praying that Scourge wouldn't do anything insane- _Ohh._ Something smelled great, and familiar. It smelled like a frank, with vegetables and other delicious toppings. Slathered with beans and hot chili. No, he had chili dogs with him? No way he'd just give it to him, he wanted something in return. He hoped it wouldn't be for anything ridiculous.

His royal shoes clicking against the glossy floor made his ears flatten. He had a plate of his favorite food just waiting to be devoured, right in the palm of his hand. "You're hungry, aren't you?" He walked closely and placed the plate on the night stand. Sonic instantly move to seize it, but Scourge stopped him by gripping his wrist. "Nah ah ah, not yet." He heard a large and ravenous growl echo from the blue one's abdomen. "Trust me, I know you're starvin'. That happens when your super form is forcefully canceled out like that. Your entire body just fails on ya. You couldn't even run outta here with your feet burnin', 'cause you can't even muster the strength to breathe on me right now."

Sonic just glared at him, before snatching his hand away. That quick movement alone almost caused him to fall back on the bed and pass out. _Woah,_ he was really out of it.

Scourge just chuckled at his stubborn nature. "I'd watch that attitude if I were you. You could accidentally kill yourself, moving too quickly like that." He then shoved Sonic down onto the bed, before climbing onto the humungous mattress himself. The hero groaned painfully, as that was too rough for his body to take right now. If he and Scourge had a one on one with their fists, Sonic would more than likely die before throwing the first punch. Scourge then drew the curtains of the canopy, closing them tightly. "I'll let ya eat, on one condition."

 _Oh no_ , he thought. Sonic struggled to sit back up, but he just managed to do so. He scooted backwards and laid his head against the headboard. He tried mumbling, his poor attempt at speaking. "G...G-Get away...from me..."

"Just hear me out first, Blue." Scourge said as he crawled closer towards him. Sonic clenched his eyes shut and looked away. Then, his anti-double did nothing and just sat down in front of him. Carefully, he opened his eyes up to see Scourge calmly sitting in front of him. Wait, his legs were bare. He could clearly see his green fur. Why were they bare? Why didn't he have his royal-whatever pants on? He noticed Sonic was staring at his legs, so he elaborated. "Oh, that. So like, we don't really need to wear pants anyway, I was just tryin' to look the part. That actually has to do with the deal I'm about to give ya." ...Huh? "I'll feed ya three times a day, if you give me some love in exchange for every meal."

"...!" He was going to-No. Fucking, _hell no!_ Sonic immediately tried to kick him away, but he couldn't even raise his leg. God, he just felt so tired. So hungry, so thirsty. He couldn't even get to the bathroom to get some tap water from the sink. He was going to die at this rate.

"Blue, what did I just say? Moving will destroy you even more." He casually reminded. "Don't worry, you'll move around better as time passes. But as of now, you need to chill. I don't want much from you today." He rested his elbow on his knee and leaned his muzzle on his palm. "I just want a kiss, that's all."

A kiss? Okay, definitely not as bad as he thought. But he could easily be lying. Yet- "..." His stomach growled again. He was too hungry, he had to eat something. The smell of that food was just making things worse.

Scourge held up a hand as an oath. "I swear, that's all I want today. That's _all_ I want. A nice, deep and loving kiss." His blue eyes perked up with a smile. "Hey, I could even give ya chaos energy that way. That would help you get back up to one hundred percent a lot quicker, ya know." He tilted his head and deepened the warmth in his grin. "Isn't that nice?"

"..."

"Just a kiss, Blue. That's all I'm askin' for right now."

But Shadow, he _couldn't_ do that to Shadow. He couldn't just, cheat on him like that just to save his own skin. That was selfish. He'd be betraying him. No, no he couldn't- "...!" Another growl. "Ngh..." God, that fucking hurt...

The green hedgehog reached his hand out and gently grasped Sonic by the chin. He raised it upwards as his green eyes shook. "If you're worried about Shadow, don't be. He won't know, he'll never have to know. And it's just a little kiss, it's not like I'm fuckin' ya." His index finger looped around the rim of his lips, over and over teasingly. Then, Scourge licked his own with some hunger growing in his own body. A different type of hunger. "Come on baby," He whispered as he leaned closer. "I don't want you to die like this. Let me help you," His thumb pressed down upon his peach bottom lip. "Please."

With guilt and shame rushing up to his chest, Sonic lowered his eyes sadly. He made a small, hesitant, and simple nod.

He let Scourge press his lips upon his.

Willingly, and consciously.

He thought he would feel rough and burning hot lips push onto his mouth, but he didn't. Scourge's lips were surprisingly smooth, warm, soft and tender. He didn't taste like alcohol or cigarettes, he actually tasted rather refreshing. Like peppermint and non-scented chap stick. The kiss lasted for some seconds, about seven. Sonic was about to pull away, until Scourge grabbed his arms to yank him even closer. Of course he wouldn't be satisfied with just that. His anti-self broke the kiss, to allow Sonic to breathe. "Yeah, catch your breath babe. We ain't finished yet." He murmured before capturing his mouth again in another consummation. Scourge made the kiss even deeper this time, his face turning pink as he was kissing his crush for the first time.

Sonic knew exactly where this was going. He was going to shove his tongue down his throat, and that would not feel good. No doubt he'd quit the gentle facade and bruise his lips when that happened, so Sonic took a step ahead. He hated himself for this, and he hoped to Chaos Shadow wouldn't freak if he found out, but he had to in order to get this shit over with. The hero took the initiative, and slightly opened his mouth to slip his tongue between Scourge's lips. Understandably shocked by the action, the green hedgehog hummed in delight. Oh boy, here it comes. Ugh, his tongue was sliding against his.

And it-Again, surprisingly tasted good.

He tasted more peppermint, more cooling flavors. Either he brushed his teeth before he came in here, or he really had a thing for candy mints like Tails. Well, since they were opposites, that would make a lot of sense. As their tongues pushed and pulled, Sonic could feel some burning in Scourge's tongue. Once he tasted it, it was _invigorating._ That was chaos energy for sure. It tasted so good, it tasted delicious. As they tongue-fought, Sonic could feel some of his energy slowly returning. Scourge slipped his hands down his torso, running down his sides and soon his hips. He palmed and caressed them, feeling Sonic stiffen from the touch.

For another quick moment, Scourge broke the kiss. "Mmn," He made a low moan. "I want you to have fun too, Blue. Touch me." He ordered. Not sternly or roughly, it was a very gentle demand. It's just that, Sonic knew better than to think he could refuse. If he did, Scourge would hurt him or starve him. "Damn you taste good, baby." He mumbled. Sonic trembled as he did this, he could _not_ believe he was doing this. Why did he have to do this? His hands shivered violently as he slowly raised them, and patted them against Scourge's arms. He rubbed down them, feeling his body mass underneath his royal top. "Nm, that's right Blue...You're doing great, you're almost done..." He whispered against his lips in a soothing voice. "I just need to, taste you a little more..."

"..."

They disconnected, but Scourge still wasn't done. He pulled Sonic into an embrace, his arms wrapping around him as they sloppily made out. He was, actually hugging him. As if he was really his boyfriend. With a heavy heart, Sonic did the same, and hugged back. Maybe this move of intimacy would make him happy. Their tongues tangled, spit dripping as Scourge slowly ended up leaning against the hero to lay down. They fell down onto the bed, and Sonic could feel more chaos energy on his tongue that quickly spread into blood stream.

Finally, Scourge broke the kiss for the final time.

He let Sonic go, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "You're a good ass kisser, Blue. No wonder Stripes likes ya so much." He rubbed his hand on hero's thigh, before easing it off and standing up from the bed. He loosened one of the curtains of the canopy, and walked away from it. "Bon appétit, baby." He chuckled with a wink. His snickers echoed in the room as he stepped out, closing the double doors behind him.

Sonic scrambled and bolted towards the plate of food on the nightstand, snatching it off and placing it in his lap to devour. He ate like he never tasted food before, as if he never even understood the concept. It tasted just as mouthwatering as it looked. After around five bites, he forced himself to slow down so he wouldn't end up puking from eating too quickly. Or choking. After some minutes of downing the two franks down his throat, he sighed heavily. Thank God, he wouldn't starve. He dropped the plate onto the floor and fell onto his back on the canopy. He stared up at the curtained covered ceiling, wondering how the fuck he got himself into this mess.

He then covered his hands with his face as he realized what he did. He kissed another person, made out with another person. He just cheated on Shadow. Sure they didn't have sex, but that was close enough in his eyes. He just cheated on the very person he was in love with, the very person who he couldn't stand hurting. He inhaled strongly, forcing himself not to cry. He was selfish, he should have just starved. He should have just died from starvation, that would have been a better fate than betraying Shadow. Damn it, he was such a fucking screw up! He was a horrible boyfriend, he was a horrible person! He turned over on his side, his teeth clenching as his body shivered.

He needed to get out of here, he really needed to get out of here.

He just ate, and he just consumed chaos energy. He could make quicker movements now. The blue hedgehog stood up off the bed and stormed towards the double doors leading out of the room. He reached his hands down to grasp the knobs, until he was immediately electrocuted with sparkling scarlet red energy. Sonic couldn't even scream, his eyes just bugged out of his face with his jaw dropping. His body intensely shook back and forth as his brain was practically fried. When he finally let go, he slowly fell backwards with his eyes rolling. He landed hard onto the floor, spit dripping out of his mouth as his tried settling his vision.

 _"Just in case you try anything funny, I'm putting a chaos barrier on this entire room so you can't leave or use your powers."_

Shit, how could he forget about that...?

His consciousness left him, and everything went black.

* * *

Warping to Moebius was child's play, and Zhadow was nice enough to give him a forged emerald to use for teleportation.

He had already familiarized himself with the scenery. All he'd have to do now is get to that castle and find Sonic. He thankfully warped himself just in front of the castle walls. Now he would have to pinpoint Sonic's wavelength, chaos control inside, grab him, and get the hell out of there. When Shadow closed his eyes to focus onto Sonic's energy, he nearly gasped. Sonic's energy, it was really low. _Deathly_ low. He felt like, he felt like he was dying. Oh God, what the hell was that bastard doing to him!? No, he couldn't go crazy worrying about that. He had to get Sonic back! Shadow growled and gripped the fake chaos emerald in his hand.

"Chaos-!" His eyes widened. "...!"

Red static briefly electrified his arms. He dropped the emerald, and almost fell back onto his butt. While panting heavily, his eyes shrunk as he felt his heart racing against his chest. He then realized something horrible.

 _N-No..._

Something was blocking him from teleporting in. No. No, no... _Damn it!_ Scourge must have did that using Fleetway's power. He cut him off from getting in, and cut Sonic off from getting out. Wherever he was, he was shut in. Fuck. Shadow clenched his teeth angrily, but didn't give up hope. Okay, fine. He would just have to do this the old fashioned way, and scale up the castle on foot. He zipped towards the old abandoned castle, rushing right through the crumbling entrance through the royal structure's walls.

In seconds, he arrived at the fifty foot tall castle doors. They were shut, and Shadow could see the obvious red and black corrupted energy surging around the entire castle perimeter. That included the doors. In other words, he wouldn't be able to bust himself inside with physical force or chaotic force unless he wanted another dose of that chaotic electricity. But no, he had to get in. He had to! This would hurt, but damn it, he needed to save him! After the sound of two metallic rings fell to the ground, the ultimate life form literally put his life on the line. Shadow held out his hands and shoved his palms against the surface of the doors. They touched against the corrupted chaos field, and it instantly electrified his body.

He nearly screamed from the pain, but he didn't falter. _He had to get through._ He pushed through the pain, grunting as he gripped his fingers against the force field of Scourge's power. Once he dug his fingers in, he focused his own energy towards his hands and began to pull. He started to slowly tear apart the field, watching through watering red eyes as the corrupted energy began to do as he wished. It ripped apart gradually like a sheet of burning plastic, the biohog soon squeezing his eyes shut as he cried out in agony to get this over with. He then used as much physical and chaotic power as he could muster, his muscles aching in agony at the electrical volts.

Shit, it wouldn't tear any further. He couldn't seem to do it, but he couldn't give up either. However, if he kept this up, this force field's power would kill him. Fuck, not even losing the restraints of his inhibitor rings helped. This was truly the work of a deity, and this was too much for him. Shadow lowered his head lowly, his hands still pulling at the field in vain with his nervous system still screaming at him in complete pain. He didn't know what to do.

And then, a pair of soft and warm hands placed themselves on top of Shadow's, and began pulling at the force field along with him.

Shadow looked up in shock.

Who was-?

"..!?"

* * *

 **END - 44**

 **EDIT: Listen. I know y'all saw the _Sonic Movie_ trailer.**

 **Sigh.**

 **Who knows? Maybe it'll be a lot better than I initially thought. It's better to stay positive, right?**

 **...Pfft, fuck no. I'm a pessimist with the belief that if you think everything is shitty, then when something actually good happens, it'll make you feel super good inside. That's what I'm hoping happens here.**

 **Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed. I have more chapters prepared for HNR, but I'm still trying to push to write more and more. I'm at the point where things are beginning to reach the climax, and soon, the _final arch_ of the story. And I also beg of you to please be patient, 'cause things are gonna get pretty complicated after this.**

 **A question for you loyal readers: Who placed their hands on top of Shadow's at the end of the chapter? Someone already guessed who this could be many chapters ago, while ironically answering another question about this story incorrectly.**

 **See you guys soon.**


	50. She's With Me

**Small note: HOLY CRAP! It's (technically) the story's 50th chapter! Hooray!**

* * *

 **45 - She's With Me**

* * *

Warm hands firmly locked onto the back of Shadow's, and pressed along side him to rip the force field asunder. Immediately, Shadow felt that red corrupted electricity's energy falter a little. It wasn't hurting as much as it should have, but why? Not only that, but he suddenly felt as if he had more strength. Like his energy was coming back to him. He didn't waste this chance, and he gritted his teeth. He made a war cry, hollering to the heavens as he and that second pair of hands joined together to tear it apart. " _...!_ " He couldn't give up, he had to keep going.

He would get inside and save Sonic, no matter what!

Another voice from behind grunted alongside of him. _"Ngh..!"_

...

...

...

...The force field was destroyed.

Shadow collapsed onto his knees, out of breath as he tried to regain his composure. Holy fucking _shit._ He never wanted to do something like that again. He coughed and wheezed, holding his chest as some of his own saliva spat onto the cracked up cobblestone ground. He looked beside him and saw his deserted inhibitor rings, and weakly reached his arm out to seize them. He brought them to his wrists one by one, and clipped them back on. He used way too much damn energy, all in less than five minutes. He needed something to replenish his energy. Food, something. He got up in a wobbly stance, his hand clutching onto the door to keep himself up from falling back down.

After taking a few seconds to regain some oxygen back in his lungs, he swallowed hard and placed both palms back onto one of the doors. He then hauled his body forward to push it open, his teeth clenching at the weight of the humungous door. He pushed and pushed, pushing until his feet gave out once again. He stumbled forward, falling onto his side while gasping. His body trembled against the now cold carpet floor, coughing out more spit as he struggled to get back up. While trying to push himself up, he slowly craned his head upwards to see that he managed to push the door open. He was literally one foot inside of the castle, now. He sighed heavily in relief, before falling back down onto his face.

His eyelids started lower on their own, and he could no longer stay conscious.

To whomever helped him destroy the force field, he smiled in gratitude before seeing black.

* * *

Knuckles was knelt down in front of the gigantic grand gemstone that was the Master Emerald. He could feel it's energy struggle to stay radiant through the toxic air of that red energy. His eyes were closed, his head lowered in respect and in deep concentration. His gloved hands were cupped against his knees, squeezing his legs tightly as he could feel M.E's power drift towards his body. All he had to do was connect, block his mind of any other thoughts and connect. Focus, breathe. Focus, breathe. Focus, breathe...Focus...Breathe...

Focus...

 _Breathe..._

"Tikal," He whispered to one of the spirits living inside of the gemstone. "I know you can hear me. I beg that you hear my plea." His voice became a little desperate, but he still kept his volume low. "I know you can see us, and I know you can see the world's state. It's in shambles, and it's dying. The only person that can fix all this isn't here, and could be in grave danger." His hands tightened even harder. "Tikal _please_ , give me guidance. Tell me what to do to help Sonic-"

"So this is where you were hiding."

His concentration was instantly broken.

Knuckles growled and whipped his head to the right, seeing an ivory female bat standing nearby with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. "Hey, Red."

The echidna just turned away from her and glared back at the Master Emerald with irritation. She would interrupt him now at a crucial time, damn that woman. "Rouge, now isn't the time." He warned her to back off, he was in no mood to play her games.

The bat blinked at his tone, and scowled in response. "Well, sorry for catching you at a bad time while you worship your rock." She spat while pursing her lips. "All I wanted was to check up on you since you came out here alone."

He stood up and dusted the grass blades off of his legs. "Yeah, this is why I came out here alone. Not to worship the Master Emerald, but to get answers out of it." He tightened his fists. "And _you_ interrupted my concentration!"

"Concentrations of _what?_ " She retorted loudly. "It's a big ass gemstone!"

"It's our only chance to help Sonic, you idiot!"

"..!?" Her eyes flew up, and her brows furrowed. "Who the hell are you calling an idiot!? I'm not the moron who got his ass kicked by a Sonic look-alike!"

A vein grew on his head as he marched forward towards her. "Oh yeah?" He started off slowly while tilting his head. "And I'm not the imbecile who conspired with said Sonic look-alike to steal the Master Emerald, so he could get a fucking power boost from it! Thanks for the disadvantage, bat-girl!" He shouted.

Rouge's expression instantly fell, and her arms fell at her side. For a second, she lowered her gaze at the ground. Her eyelids lowered, and she felt the full brunt of that insult. Then she scowled and crossed her arms again while turning away from Knuckles. "...Screw you. You can talk to that stupid thing until the world burns to ashes. I'll disappear, just like you wanted." She turned the other cheek and sped walked herself back to the ground doors of the bunker.

After realizing what he just said, Knuckles said nothing as he heard her open and shut the bunker back. He closed his eyes and sighed, falling back onto his butt in front of the large gem. He raised a glove up to his head, and rubbed the back of it. Now he really wouldn't be able to concentrate, great. He punched his fist into the ground, before laying his arms into his lap. Just, God damn it.

...

 _"I-I'm sorry, is this a bad time?"_

Knuckles just scoffed and shook his head. "Oh no, 'course not." He replied sarcastically to the abrupt disembodied voice. "Everything's _completely_ fine..." He grumbled to himself. And then, his eyes popped open and missile-locked immediately at M.E. "T-Tikal?" He whispered. "Is that you?"

 _"Yes, it is me."_

He made a long exhale, sighing in relief as he chuckled to himself. "Thank goodness. I thought even your power was cut off thanks to this red mist. Actually," He grimaced. "Are you alright in there? M.E's energy isn't as powerful as it should be."

 _"You are right, it is not. For one, all of the seven emeralds are gone to another world. And you are right, that red energy scorching the planet is straining our power."_

Knuckles didn't like the sound of her tone, she sounded very worried. "Is there anything you can do? Anything _we_ can do?"

 _"I am afraid not, but not for the reasons you think."_

A blink. "Wait, huh?"

 _"As of now, I can feel that Sonic does not require the assistance of Super Emeralds. He can transform into the light one all on his own without our help."_

Another blink. "Hold on, seriously? Are you kidding me right now?"

 _"No. Sonic has achieved a power that granted him the ability to freely use the light one's power whenever he wishes, so long as he has one thing in particular."_

"What?"

 _" **True love.** "_ It was like he could hear her smile in that answer.

Knuckles was taken aback by that. Pfft. True love? That was cute and all, and that even proved his point that the Hyper Sonic form was actually a good spirit. But, why _true love_? And how? According to Tikal, Sonic must have already achieved this feat if he no longer needs the Super Emeralds to activate the super form. That meant that, that _Sonic was in love with someone_. But who? And when? "Tikal, what do you mean? Who's he in love with?"

 _"Ahaha."_ She chuckled at the question. _"I am sorry, but I cannot answer that question. It is not my place, but I also do not have permission to reveal such outrageous information."_

Woah, outrageous information? That must have meant it was someone Knuckles would have never imagined in his wildest dreams. Oh boy, he hoped Sonic wasn't dating some skank. Maybe Tails knew something about that. The kid knew Sonic better than anybody in the world, so he'd definitely ask him later. "What do you mean you don't have 'permission'?" He asked. "What, is Chaos telling you to keep quiet in there?"

He heard her sigh. " _No. Sadly it is not that simple. Neither Chaos nor I are allowed to speak any further about that."_ She said. _"Do you remember what the anti-Omega told you about Sonic's super forms? And the relationship between Chaos Born and our ancient clan?"_

He nodded his head. "Yeah?" That's when he clicked the pieces together. "No way, _they're_ the ones keeping your mouths shut?" He growled. "The bastards..."

 _"Yes, this is true."_ She replied in a somber voice. _"They are the ultimate owners of the Master Emerald, and are simply allowing our existence to stay within it to keep their Champion happy. This is not our home, Knuckles. We do not belong here. And thanks to that, we must obey everything those deities tell us. That includes silencing ourselves when asked certain questions about their host."_

Knuckles snarled at that answer. "This is bullshit!" He yelled. " _We're_ the ones who guarded the Master Emerald and the seven chaos emeralds with our very lives for centuries, and they have the audacity to threaten to kick you out like they're some kind of landlords!? What kind of crap is that!?" The Echidna Clan were practically the owners of the Master Emerald, and yet those deities waltzed all over his heritage as if it was scum. Maybe Tails was right, maybe all of Sonic's forms truly were nothing but assholes.

 _"..."_ She didn't respond back, Knuckles was basically right. That's when she tried saying something else to lighten his mood. _"Well, the good news is that Sonic can now utilize that power whenever he wishes. I can only hope he will be able to use it to his advantage when the opportunity calls for it."_

"But that's the problem, I don't know if he can or not." Knuckles said. "What if he's hurt? What if he doesn't have the strength to do that? Tikal," He asked with a softer voice. "I'm begging you. Can you please tell me where Sonic is? Or at least if he's okay? And what about Shadow? Can you sense him?"

She hesitated at first, almost reluctant in answering. _"...I cannot feel their energies very well, as they are no longer in this world. However, thanks to the Divine Spirits' connection to this world, I can sense that Sonic is still very much alive. I can also faintly sense the ultimate life form's energy, he is alive as well."_

Knuckles nodded in satisfaction. Good, at least they were okay. "Alright, good." He still couldn't help but feel useless, though. "Still, isn't there _something_ we can do?"

 _"I am sorry, Knuckles. But I do not think there is anything you can do to help them."_

"Are they in danger?" He asked quickly.

 _"I do not know, but I can sense that one of the divine deities is in an extreme state of distress as of now. Though I cannot tell which one."_

That didn't sound good. Hopefully it wasn't Hyper that was in distress. That was Sonic's only hope of winning against that green freak. And really? There was nothing they could do? So they could just sit here like sitting ducks and just hope Sonic and Shadow will make it out okay all on their own? Yeah, what a great plan. Knuckles pounded his fist into the ground once again. He hated being so useless, this was ridiculous.

No, he refused to give up. He had to do something.

As if sensing his troubled mind, Tikal said one more thing. _"Knuckles, if you truly wish to find an alternative way to help Sonic, I highly recommend that you speak with the anti-Omega robot."_

To that, Knuckles' eyes widened. "W...What? Tikal-"

 _"I must be going, before they realize I've been speaking with you. Good luck, Knuckles. Farewell."_

Knuckles stood up. "Tikal, wait-!" He could feel that their connection was severed. He could no longer hear her voice, or feel her presence. He sucked his teeth and turned to the side. Shit, she sounded as if she was in a panic. Like she didn't want to be caught. Chaos must have warned her to stop talking before they were found out. Those deities, they had both her and Chaos on a tight leash. That wasn't fair, none of this was fair. But, there were at least two things he could do now. One, ask Tails who Sonic could be in love with. And two, talk to that ant-Omega robot and see what else it knew about Sonic so he could figure out a way to help him from a distance. It was late, and no doubt Tails was probably asleep. He'd ask them both tomorrow.

For now, he'd go back inside the bunker and see if there was a spot for him to rest.

* * *

His eyes slowly opened, and scanned the area before him.

Shadow was slumped against a wall, his feet laying sprawled on old, tattered noble red carpet. Oh right, he was inside the castle. He looked in front of him to see that the doors to the castle were firmly shut. They must have closed back when he collapsed here. Speaking of which, he didn't faint on a wall. He didn't remember dragging himself over here, did _someone put him here?_ Ugh, his head hurt. His entire body hurt. But he couldn't just sit here, he had to get up and keep moving. He had to find something that could replenish his chaos energy levels. He struggled to stand up, but he quickly managed to do so. He put one foot in front of the other, and began to walk. The biohog limped forward, managing to make his way into the grand foyer of the castle.

Once he took a step, **_the world as he knew it changed._**

Things were twisted, out of place, in disarray, discombobulated, in utter shambles. Whimsical, warped, turned inside out and upside down. Shadow couldn't believe what he was looking at, the entire inside of the castle became some kind of nightmarish maze. The twin imperial staircases that pointed to the left and right wing of the castle were flipped. The left wing stair case was upside down, while the right wing stair case was going up horizontally. When Shadow looked upwards to try and see any upper floors from below, he realize that the stairs weren't the only things out of place. Doors were on ceilings, empty rooms were on the floors, corridors led in and out of narrow walls. He didn't know where anything ended, or where anything began.

Where was the throne room? Was it upside down in the basement? Where was the king's chambers? Outside on the edge of one of the castle's balcony's? Where was a damn bathroom? In fucking outer space?! How the hell was Shadow supposed to navigate through _this?_ And he could feel-No, he could _see_ Fleetway's power slowly warping and twisting the entire matrix of the castle's insides even more. He could see a doorway twitch every so often, as if the very walls were alive. Yes, that had to be it. Since Fleetway was a demonic entity, he must have given this castle life and contorted it in ways no normal mortal could understand. Scourge probably told him to do that just in case someone managed to get inside, like Shadow.

Of course, that fucker thought of everything. Always one step ahead. How the fuck could he find Sonic like this? Even with a map, he'd be screwed. The structure of the castle was constantly changing, it would never be accurate. Not to mention he needed to eat some food, but he wouldn't be able to find a kitchen in these conditions. God damn it. The ebony hedgehog just sat back down onto the floor, his head in his hands as he tried to think. What could he do, what could he do?

Suddenly, he felt that strange warmth from earlier. He narrowed his eyes and took his hands from his face.

What was that?

He turned around behind himself, and saw something truly extraordinary.

Bright, voluminous blonde hair gently blew in a breeze he couldn't feel. Fair skin with that warm heat he felt from before adorned soft, small, feminine hands and arms. A long blue dress fitted her, with her legs only slightly revealed underneath. Big ocean blue eyes adorned her face, pink tinted lips and rosy cheeks. Her facial frame was heart shaped, her figure delicate, frail and thin. Her lashes were long, her nose small. Her human ears were hidden beneath her gold hair, a sorrowful expression stained on her beautiful face. She moved to place her hand onto Shadow's shoulder, before looking into his eyes.

Then, she flinched.

Shadow was staring right at her, his eyes wide and pupils small from utter shock and disbelief. His mouth kept moving and twitching, like he was about to say something, but his voice was too caught up in his own throat to speak proper words. The blonde girl looked behind her to see if there was something there Shadow noticed, only to see nothing was there. She then looked back at Shadow, her eyes dilating as well as she realized exactly what he realized.

He could _see_ her.

She gasped, her voice resonated against him. She snatched her hand away from Shadow and put her hands up to her mouth while furrowing her brows. She instantly stood up, backing away a few steps as she eyed Shadow carefully. Thinking death was nearly upon him, Shadow stumbled to get back up. After doing so, he hit himself in the head to see if this was a dream that he had to wake up from. When he looked in front of him, he saw that the girl was still there. Okay, he wasn't dreaming. Now he had to test and see if he was dead. He slowly walked towards the girl, and held out a hand. "Ma... _ **Maria?**_ " He whispered as his fingers tried to graze the bottom of her top.

Much to both his disappointment and relief, his hand phased right through her. Once he took his arm back, he soon realized that the girl looked a little transparent. He could see through her, too. He didn't understand, what was happening right now?

"...Maria? Is that you?" He asked again, his voice so soft and weak.

Hesitantly, the girl nodded her head. She took her hands from her mouth, and whispered something back to him. Her lips moved, she was speaking to him. She was really doing it. He could actually her her voice again.

"Oh God." He said with a frown. She tilted her head.

Quietly, she whispered. _"You can see me?"_ Shadow nodded with an unsure expression.

"Yes, I can." He then asked her a question. "Am I, dead?"

The girl shook her head, and replied. _"I don't think so. Otherwise, we both would be together with grandfather."_

Shadow's eyes began to moisten. No, it _couldn't_ be her. There's no rhyme or reason for her to be here. How was she even here at all? "I-I..." He stammered. "I don't understand, how are you here? _Why_ are you here? Are you a spirit?"

She nodded to his last question. _"I was always with you, Shadow. The moment you first became Super, I was there with you."_ So she really was his super form. She was the power Shadow had within him all along. In a way, she was his divine spirit. _"I was, asleep for a very long time. And then, I suddenly woke up alongside you when you turned yellow. I didn't understand it at first, until I watched you fight that big monster grandfather had built all those years ago. You were fighting with Sonic, weren't you?"_ She knew all of that. She knew when he fought the Biolizard. She was truly there the whole time, she even remembered Sonic. _"Actually, didn't he help you transform? That was how I woke up in the first place."_

This had to be Maria. If she was really his super form, of course she'd know all of these things and explain it in specific detail. Shadow rose his arm to his face, fighting off any tears that threatened to leave from his eyes. "It..." His body shivered. "I-It...It really is..." He couldn't even finish. She could see that he was trying his hardest not to cry in front of her, and he didn't even know he could do that. She smiled sadly as he clenched his teeth, wanting so much to embrace him in her arms one last time.

 _"I thought you knew that all along, you big dummy."_ She lightly scolded.

"N-No..." He grunted out. "I thought you were gone forever."

Maria shook her head, her long golden her swishing from side to side. " _I could never leave you by yourself. You still need me, even now."_

"Wait," He paused. "S-So, you were the one who helped me destroy the force field outside?" He watched her nod without a word. And that more than likely wasn't the only time she intervened. She was helping him this entire time, and he didn't even notice. He thought only metaphorically, she gave him strength. But no, she literally was here all along, giving him extra pushes and shoves to be strong and do the right thing. "Maria..." Shadow murmured. "Why didn't I realize sooner...?" He whispered with a frail tone. "You were with me..." He crumbled down onto the floor, his face hidden in his arms. "This entire time...And I never..." His tears fell to the floor below him. "I never...I never...Damn it,"

 _"Hey now,"_ She knelt to his side and leaned down to meet his gaze. " _You can't keep falling on your knees like this. Sonic needs you now more than ever. Shadow,"_ She said while phasing her hand onto his head. Yes, she couldn't touch him, but he could still feel her warmth. " _Get up, stand up. We can find him."_ She made a bigger smile and made a fist with her small hand. Pumping it up with a confident expression. _"I know we can!"_ Her eyes, they still sparkled as if she was still alive. Weren't ghosts supposed to be soulless? Than how did this girl carry on as if she was still walking amongst the living? God, that attitude is exactly the strength he clung to for more than fifty years. That's what helped him carry on.

But, that's also another reason why he fell in love with Sonic.

That smile, that confidence, that optimism, that radiance of life and energy even in her own death. That's exactly how Sonic acted. That's why he loved Maria, but that's why he was in love with Sonic. They truly were so much alike. But regardless of anything, she was right. Shadow wiped his eyes with a harsh sniff, more steadily getting up from his submissive position. Feeling more energy than before, Shadow stood tall and nodded. He couldn't wallow like this while his mate was being tormented by that green abomination. He came to save him, and that's what he would do.

Maria saw the look in his eyes, and smirked. That was the Shadow she knew and loved. She got up and walked beside him, towering over him with pride. " _We can do this."_ She repeated with more ambition. _"All we have to do now is find a kitchen so you can feel better."_

"Right." He agreed. It might take him forever, but it wouldn't matter. He had to find food to get energy, and find Sonic. He'd search this whole damn castle for that kitchen, and nothing would stop-

Maria suddenly made a yelp and immediately crouched down to hide behind Shadow. Which...Was odd considering as a human, she was several feet taller than him. She whimpered while pointing to the right. Shadow blinked and turned in that direction. He saw what she was talking about, and instantly got on his guard. He didn't have the strength to fight now, but he'd have to so he could survive. A figure began moving towards them, but they couldn't quiet see them clearly with all the corrupted chaos energy warping and manipulating the area around them.

Soon, they came close enough into full view. They were only a few feet away from Shadow at this point. They stopped for a moment, before moving forward and walking...

...Right passed him.

Another blink.

Shadow watched the person move, and his mouth became agape. Walking passed him, _was a blue hedgehog._ This blue hedgehog looked exactly like Sonic, with very small differences. For once, they were wearing a light blue hoodie, similar to the one Sonic bought back in No Zone. They were also wearing black converse shoes, his laces not even tied. Their hands were in his hoodie pockets, their sensitive ears flicking as they probably heard other noises around the castle. On his muzzle were a few small faded scars, but there were more heavy looking scars on his arms and legs. Most of them being dangerous vertical lines, the right way to cut. Those were obviously self harm wounds, and this obviously wasn't Sonic.

As they walked away, Shadow frowned and yelled for them to stop. "Hey!" He shouted. "You!" They only kept walking, but their ears did flick in Shadow's direction. That meant he heard him. "Damn it, _you_ with the blue hoodie!"

That made the person pause, and turn towards Shadow.

And his eyes, were completely white and empty.

* * *

A rhythmic knock awoken Sonic from his slumber. The hero flinched, his eyes snapping open. He sat up quickly and looked around the room, only to realize he was still in this damn bedroom. He sighed and ran his hand through his quills. He scooted himself off of the bed, at the very least grateful that he had energy to move. He was still without his shoes, as Scourge still had them hidden. He looked to the side of the spacious room, eyeing the single door leading to the bathroom. He had to pee, might as well use it. He walked forward and grasped the knob, twisting and pulling the door open. He stepped inside, noticing how clean the room was.

Sonic wasted no more time going to the toilet and pulling off his gloves. He leaned over to place them onto the sink, then turned back to the toilet and lowered his hands below his stomach. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body so he could relieve himself, his shoulders going down as he felt a small sense of bliss. Since he'd be here a while, might as well think while he did his business. Alright, what could he do? There was a strong barrier on the entire room, and he couldn't get out. Only Scourge could get in, there was no other way around that. Maybe if he could sprint out when he opened the doors, he could make his escape then. That would hurt his feet, but it'd be a small price to pay for freedom. He could always find his shoes later.

That was his only ticket out of here, but Scourge was too smart for that. Not only that, but he was faster than Sonic thanks to his mutation. There was no way he'd let him get too far. Besides, Scourge knew the castle better than he did. Even if Sonic did manage to run away, Scourge could find him easily. He was in his territory, his world. He had total control over everything that happened here, which was a huge disadvantage. Sonic truly didn't know what to do, everything was a trap. Well, he could try to sweet talk him, but he'd probably try to make him touch him or something. And even then, Scourge wasn't stupid, he would see through a ruse like that.

Sonic sighed.

He finished up and grabbed some tissue from the roll beside the toilet. He cleaned himself up and dumped the tainted tissues into the bowl. He then flushed and walked to the sink, turning on the faucet and placing his hands underneath warm water. He was surprised Scourge managed to keep the electricity and heat running in this place. Did he have any soap in-Ah there it was. Okay, just get under the nails and...Done. He placed the soap down, snatched his gloves from the sink and turned to walk out of the bathroom. Once he stepped out while tugging his gloves back on, his mind went one hundred miles per second. Thinking once again: _How the hell do I get out of here!?_ Shit, was Scourge right? Was there really nothing he could do?

He grimaced. The only choice he had was to sweet talk him. Yes, there was a high chance that would fail, but that was all he had to go on. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing, he had to try something! Now if only he could make him come up here so he could-

"Yo Blue."

Speak of the devil and he shall come marching.

Chaos, give him strength.

Sonic inhaled deeply, before exhaling softly. He couldn't be daunted now, he had to do this. He moved to return back to the canopy bed, only to see Scourge leaning against one of the bed posts with his arms crossed. He made a small wave with an eerie smile. "Hey, baby."

The hero bit the bottom of his lip. Don't get intimidated. As long as he didn't piss him off, he wouldn't hurt him. "Uhh, hey." He repeated in a standoffish way. "No games. What do you want?" Sonic retorted.

Scourge made a hurt expression. "Aww, you don't mean that."

"Let me guess, you want me to do something to you? Or, you wanna do something to me?" The blue hedgehog furrowed his brows. "Whatever it is, I'm not doing it. I'm never doing something like that again."

His anti-self rolled his eyes. "Tell me something I don't know." He mumbled. "It's because you're already in love with someone, durr. I get it already, Blue." He stood off the bed post and started walking in the direction of the double doors. "That's why you're able to use Hyper without Super Emeralds, 'cause _ya found true love._ You got Stripes now, so there's no way in hell you could ever fall for me. And that sucks and all, but right now," He turned around, his face void of any humor, nor his normally mischievous attitude. "I don't give a damn about that."

...Eh? Sonic blinked. "Wait, seriously?"

Scourge shook his head. "I don't have a one-track mind, Blue. And, well," He hesitated as he looked off to the side. He seemed uncomfortable about something. "There's something you gotta know. This," He gestured to himself by tugging his own clothing. "None of this is me. The clothes, the leather, this personality...None of this is me."

"Wha-" He was definitely stumped after hearing that. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Once again, I'm trying to tell you something important, and you need to listen. Okay?" He asked with a sincere voice. "But I don't wanna tell ya here, so follow me." He walked closer in front of Sonic and placed his hand onto his wrist. Sonic flinched, but realized Scourge's grip was very gentle. He didn't squeeze, he wasn't hurting him. Red chaotic energy appeared and concentrated on their limbs, until red transparent chained-handcuffs appeared on both their wrists. Sonic was now bound to him, just like he did to Zonic back in the war. Sonic scowled at Scourge. Scourge noticed his dissatisfaction of this. "Sorry Blue, I don't trust you. Just follow me, alright?"

Sonic sucked his teeth and huffed out some air. "Whatever, s'not like I got a choice."

* * *

"Maria," Shadow said in a quiet voice, just barely above a whisper. "You see him too, right?" He saw the girl beside him nod, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Okay, so it's not just me." He concluded with a suspicious tone. "Is he, is he also a spirit?" He asked her as the being before them just continued to stare at them with his hands in his hoodie pockets. He saw that Maria shrugged her shoulders. She was not sure if he was much of a spirit as she was, or not. Shadow wanted to grasp her small hand, to let her know not to be afraid. But then he remembered that if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be standing here right now. Maria was incredibly brave enough on her own, he didn't need to coddle her. She was fine, she was just alarmed.

As for this person before them, he didn't know what to make of him. At first he ignored them, until he specifically called him out by dress code. Why? His ears flinched when he called him the first couple of times, so he heard him call him out. Why turn around now? Was he being rude, or was something else going on? And another thing-

-Why was this person a blue hedgehog as well?

How many Sonics would he meet in one lifetime? For God's sake. Shadow lowered his eye lids with squinted irises and called out to the person again. " _You,_ with the blue hoodie!" He said again while pointing out to him. The being looked Shadow directly in the eyes and tilted his head. This person eyes, they were white and entirely blank. Just like Dark Sonic's but, definitely not as sinister. No, this couldn't have been a super form. He looked too, weak to be one. His figure was skinny, he looked like he needed a steak, his wrists looked like someone shoved him down a wood chipper, he looked younger than both Scourge and Sonic, and he looked cowardly.

Just when Shadow called out to him again, the being winced at his loud tone and his ears flattened.

What gives? Shadow paid this no mind however, and went on. "Who are you? Are you another Sonic from another reality?" After a few seconds of silence, Shadow growled. He didn't have time for him to hesitate, he needed answers. "Answer me!" He demanded.

The being cringed again and nodded his head. His lips began to move, and he could hear his ghostly voice. _"Yes, I am of this reality."_

What? Of _this_ reality? But Scourge was the Sonic of this reality. Were there two? Okay, so perhaps this was another spirit as well since Maria was going through the same thing, but why? _Who_ was this? "No, Scourge, the anti-Sonic, is the Sonic of this reality. So I'll ask again," Shadow said in a more threatening growl. "Who. Are. You?"

The blue stranger shook his head. _"No, I promise that I am the Sonic of this reality. I'm anti-Sonic, **the real anti-Sonic.** "_ He responded desperately. He was probably intimidated by him. As for his answer, none of this made sense. Scourge was an arrogant, ingenious, fearless tyrant who had no care in the world for what anyone had to say to him. This couldn't have been the true anti-Sonic, because Scourge wouldn't act like this. And even if it was, how were there two anti-Sonics in one reality?

"Impossible. There can't be two anti-Sonics!" Shadow exclaimed.

The one calling himself **the true anti-Sonic** hugged his arms together and nervously rubbed them. _"No, I am telling the truth. I am not Scourge yes, but I am still a part of him. He's still half me, and I'm half him."_

Half...Him?

Shadow's eyes widened. He looked up at Maria, who stood by him while shaking her head. She had no idea what was going on right now, and neither did he.

The biohog then turned back to their new acquaintance and returned his glare.

"You've got some explaining to do, kid."

* * *

 **END - 45**

 **Alright, listen.**

 **From here on out, things are gonna get a bit confusing. Like, no, seriously. Ya gotta really pay attention so you can truly understand the gravity of the situation.**

 **Also, I wanna address something.**

 **Traumatic events do not shape a good character. Please understand that I did not write that rape scene to show that Scourge was some misunderstood bab. This is why he and Sonic argued. This was not for sympathy, nor for character building. This was to show you one thing, and one thing only:** **The Divine Spirits are...** **Well, I'm sure you can figure it out.**

 **Anyway, so yeah. Maria's in the story. A long ass time ago, I asked you all who the Light One was in chapter 17. Obviously, you all know that it's Hyper and a lot of you easily guessed that it was him. However, there was one person who went above and beyond. A loyal reviewer named _Tolkam_ said this: **_"Lastly, as for your question, rather than guessing Hyper Sonic like the others have, I'm going to throw a shot in the dark and guess Maria. It would be a less predictable and more interesting development."_

 **...Well I'm sorry for being predictable, BUT! That's not the point. Point is, they were kinda on the right track. Maria is not the Light One, but she IS a spirit. She is, in a way, Shadow's Divine Spirit.**

 **By the way, the reviewer _Tolkam_ also suggested (also a long ass time ago) that I should start a discord for this story, so that all you readers could chat with me about it. I have created an account, and I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in that.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this one.**


	51. We Didn't Have A Choice

**46 - We Didn't Have A Choice**

* * *

Shadow tapped his fingers against his elbow as his arms were crossed, his legs also in a pretzel while sitting with impatience. He sat on some upside down small set of steps nearby while Maria just floated beside him with a worried expression. Though, she seemed more puzzled than worried at this point, and Shadow couldn't blame her. This whole Scourge shit has been one rabbit hole to the next, a huge convoluted mess that he struggled to comprehend with even the smallest detail. Any new discovery or clue that helped unravel the psychopathic green hedgehog's motives, only brought tons more headaches and frustration. Right now, the ultimate life form was slowly piecing together every single thing he had just heard from the strange spirit who claimed to be the true anti-Sonic.

"Hold on, just," He held up his hand to the spirit with aggravation. "Let me get some of this straight, alright?" He ordered. The spirit frowned with lowered green eyes and rubbed his forearm while nodding. Shadow cleared his throat. "Originally, Scourge, otherwise known as Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog, was born a blue furred, green eyed hedgehog. Due to his mutation, he caused his entire matrix to fall into disarray. The aftermath of the mutation was so detrimental, that it split him into two halves. One half being his soul, which is supposed to be you, and the other half is his actual body which holds his heart. The living husk, which is the one causing havoc now." He sighed heavily and gripped the side of his head. "Did I get all that right?"

The spirit nodded his head quickly, and his lips started to move. _"Yes, that's all correct. I am his soul, and the one walking around in the flesh is the husk with the heart."_ He stuffed his hands in his hoodie pockets while looking downwards at the floor. _"He-No,_ we _, planned to separate ourselves. We knew the Master Emerald would cause a horrible side effect that could potentially split us up. At least, according to our calculations."_

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "But why? Why do that? And you described the pain to be unbearable, so why do it? Why was that apart of your plan?"

 _"Scourge wanted to reverse his whole,"_ The spirit made an awkward expression and gulped. _"Estrous cycle."_

Estrous cycle? Wait, was he talking about being in heat? "Heat? I don't understand, why reverse that?"

He kicked his converse sneakers back and forth. _"It's long to explain, so I'll summarize."_ The spirit offered. _"With every reality, the heat cycle for the Chaos Born ruling over that realm differs drastically. For Sonic prime, it's similar to regular Mobians. You all emit a stench that makes you all, well...Horny. But for me, for us,"_ He winced with a pain Shadow recognized. He was opening old wounds, and he looked as if he was going to be sick. _"I-It, it makes us very weak. We become unhealthily low on energy, and we wouldn't be able to regain any strength until we've satisfied ourselves. And not only that, but the stench you Mobians give off, is one hundred times that for us in this world. It's rancid, and it turns even the most stubborn mate fall to our every whim. And sometimes, they can get forceful, or violent."_

That sounded seriously unfair, so he could see why Scourge hated having said heat cycle, and it would also explain why he was a sexual deviant. He didn't have a choice: Either be very sexually active to beat your heat cycle, or suffer. But that still didn't answer why he reversed the effects. "Okay, but that still doesn't explain why he did it. And if he reversed the effects of being in heat, how does that work out for him now?"

 _"You see, all Chaos Born, no matter the reality, are all supposed to lose their virginity at a specific time. This is because the Divine ones want our bodies to be ready to reproduce so we can eventually repopulate. For us, we waited too long to have our first time taken away. If you don't lose your chastity at the right time, you get warned by the Divine ones. We ignored that warning, and our heat was soon forced on us. We were in jail at the time, No Zone prison in the asylum. Actually,"_ He paused for a second before looking up at Shadow. _"You do remember the flashback Scourge showed you, right? Of Zonic?"_

* * *

 _"Every Chaos Born has a due date to discard their chastity, but he's long passed due. If he doesn't go through with mating, he will be forced into his own e_ _strous cycle, and he will suffer for it."_

* * *

Shit that's right, they did see that in Zonic's flashback. "Yes, I remember." Shadow nodded with a softer tone. "The Divine Spirits don't have control over your heat cycle and how it works, so it forced itself upon you on it's own when you didn't lose your maidenhood at a give amount of time." Shadow noticed while he said this, that while the Divine Spirits didn't have control of their heat cycle, they still probably had the power to _change it_ though. What gives? "You were forced to lose it at a young age, and in a disturbing way." He grimaced at the very mention of it.

 _"Well, that's why Scourge wanted to reverse the effects, so it wouldn't mess him up while he went through with his plan. But, when he reversed the effects, something bad happened that we couldn't predict. W-We, made a terrible mistake."_

His sudden silence caused Shadow to flinch, and he immediately stopped tapping his fingers.

Oh shit.

 _Opposites._ The _opposite_ happened to Scourge after the mutation. "Wait, if he reversed the effects..." The biohog whispered. "That means, if his heat couldn't effect other people anymore, it would effect _himself_?"

The spirit nodded. _"I'm afraid so. So instead of Moebians flocking to us like cattle, it turned Scourge that way. We truly made ourselves a complete opposite."_

"And that's why he's so sex-crazed." He whispered back, uttering the _true_ reason why he was a sexual deviant. "Why he's so hellbent on raping Sonic, why he thinks rape is the only way to love someone. Because that's what his heat made others think, and now he reversed that instinct onto himself." He stood up from the upside down stair case and jumped down to land on the floor while pacing. "So in theory, let's say Scourge already had a small crush on Sonic. When he reversed the effects of his heat onto himself, that small crush turned into an obsessive and abusive infatuation." He turned to the spirit. "Am I right?"

The spirit of the true anti-Sonic nodded. _"Yup, that's it."_

"Which also means," Shadow took a step back when he realized the point the spirit was making. "Scourge was never in love with Sonic, at least not to such an insane extent. He never _wanted_ to hurt him, not like _that._ " He turned to the spirit. "Is, is that true? This whole time, he's only hurting Sonic like that because of something he can't control? Because of something he accidentally placed on himself?"

The spirit nodded once more. _"Yes. We like Sonic, sure. He's a good guy."_ The blue hedgehog spirit nodded. _"We certainly respected him before we split in two. But that respect and likeness, it turned into something horrible."_ The spirit looked at Shadow with desperation. _"But that's not all! It's not just the mutation that screwed us up. Thanks to the demon, he's been corrupting our minds, turning us even more mad as time goes."_

Shadow hated to admit it, but he believed that. When he first met Scourge, he didn't think the kid was batshit insane, just aggressive and very cocky. He could remember debating with Sonic whether or not Scourge was actually a truly psychotic threat, and Shadow didn't think so at all. Scourge just, didn't come across like that. He never seemed that bad because the stakes never went that high, and he didn't act so nasty back then. But in No Zone? He went from zero to one million at the word 'go' in an instant. That whole scene at the spa, him ramming his head into the walls when Shadow fought Dark Sonic? It was all just getting worse and worse. Hell, he never acted that wild even when he tortured Sonic at the beginning. Scourge had already been crazy, but he still had his wits about him.

But now with this demon, it threw all of that out of the window.

Shadow blinked at the information. Huh. "So then," He slowly said. "That explains why he's so obsessed with Sonic, but what about you? You say you're his half, but if that's true, why are you a spirit?"

 _"Because the soul of a Chaos Born is strong enough to roam around as a spirit. And I'm not the only one. In this castle, the dead live here. It's haunted. That's why you can see your pretty human friend over there."_ He pointed to Maria in the back, who awkwardly smiled and waved at him. With a nervous smile, the true anti-Sonic waved back.

Woah, woah and woah. _Haunted?_ First magic from kitsunes and now ghosts and spirits were real? While he was absolutely elated that Maria could be around him even after death, Shadow couldn't help but question how in the world any of this was even possible. Okay, sure, yes. Chaos power was a thing, and yes, deities were real and intervening. But, really? Ghosts? What else was there? A universe filled with nothing but female versions of themselves-? Oh.

Oh God, no wait, never mind.

"How?" Was all Shadow responded with. "How the hell is this place haunted? What's next? Is the world to Wonderland gonna pop up in front of me, too?" He asked sarcastically while rubbing his fingers against his head. He was growing a damn headache.

The blue hedgehog spirit sighed. _"Chaos is a very powerful thing. It can be so powerful, so overwhelming, that it can warp and manipulate the very fabric of the world easily. It's why you can time travel, teleport, cause mutations, destroy planets and worse."_ He looked down to the floor as he continued to rub his arm nervously. _"This is where Scourge's **Chaotic Shrine** is located, in this castle. A **shrine** has an overwhelming amount of chaos energy. That reaction alone is what's enabling us to haunt this place. But the demon is making it worse. His corrupted power is what's causing the entire castle to look like this."_

That would explain the nearly impenetrable barrier that was placed onto the front doors of the castle. It had that nasty looking scarlet red aura on it, and the inside of the noble building had it, too.

Okay, let's do a small summation one more time. Scourge's Chaotic Shrine, whatever _that_ was, was located in this castle somewhere. Thanks to that, a huge amount of chaos power was flowing through here. So much so, that it enables spirits to roam around. This includes Scourge's other half, which is his soul, and Maria, whom are also roaming around here. This entire castle was haunted, meaning not only can Shadow see them, but he can see other entities that could be here, too.

Shadow blinked. "You and Maria, you two aren't the only spirits around?"

The true anti-Sonic shook his head. _"No, we aren't. Anyone who's died here in this building, is more than likely a spirit just as well. I've seen many of my family members around here."_ He gave Shadow a cautious look. _"You better be careful. A lot of my relatives became mad before they died, and they look grotesque."_

"Hmph." Shadow wasn't phased by that. Nothing could stand in his way right now. He had to get to Sonic, no exceptions. "If that's the case, then you'll help me." He suddenly declared. Maria flinched and looked down at the red striped hedgehog with shock, as did the true anti-Sonic.

 _"W-What? Help you...?"_

The true anti-Sonic, according to Zonic, was a fairly decent, young, intelligent man who was never an actual threat to anyone until he **'opened his eyes'** to the Divine spirits' truth. He didn't really become the asshole they all knew and despised until after he was put in the asylum, meaning that this was the anti-Sonic before he was raped and enlightened to the truth of his own race. Shadow could only assume he was kinder, more compassionate, or at least more merciful. More meek, cowardly, and too passive. "Yes. This place is a labyrinth, and I need to find Sonic immediately. Your other half could be hurting him as we speak. We're wasting time. How long have you haunted this place?"

The spirit scratched behind his head. _"Err, approximately...Two years? Granted, I still followed my other half around whenever he left the premises, but my origin is here."_

"And you've already lived here for more than a decade before you slaughtered your people. Meaning, you know your way around here more than anyone." Shadow crossed his arms as he watched the spirit's mouth fall agape. "And since you've already encountered other spirits, you can warn me of their whereabouts as we go."

 _"A-Are you serious?"_

Shadow grunted in exasperation. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

The spirit hung his head low while sighing. _"This is bad. If I help you, and if my other half finds out that I'm helping you-"_

"That's _your_ problem." Shadow growled while stepping closer towards the spirit. "This is _your_ fault. You're the one who started this mess to begin with anyway. Let me ask you this, do you at least feel guilty?"

With a pause, the spirit looked off to the side and lowered his empty iris-less gaze. _"...Of course I do. I never wanted to hurt all those people, and I never wanted to hurt Sonic prime. I didn't want any of this to happen. I just-"_ He shook his head while frowning. _"I just wanted to save them, and I wanted to save future generations of innocent people."_ He slowly rose his head to meet Shadow's gaze. _"And I wanted to save Sonic for a change, too."_

"By killing him, sure." Shadow deadpanned.

 _"Death was a better choice than playing in their hands!"_ The spirit suddenly exclaimed. He could confidently conclude that he was offended by that remark. _"Once you get manipulated by them, it's too late! There's no turning back! Everything gets enslaved and you turn mad! Just like all of my family members! I didn't have a choice!"_ He gritted his teeth and gave Shadow a glare. _"It's only a matter of time before Sonic becomes a complete puppet. I want to prevent that, and stop the Divine Spirits' reign of terror once and for all!"_

Shadow wasn't sure if he could trust his words or not, but one thing was for certain and without question: The anti-Sonic, definitely respected and liked Sonic in some way shape or form before he turned crazy. And even though he was a nervous and cowardly wreck, he definitely had some vigor left inside of him. So this was the prince before he was arrested, huh? That strength in his voice definitely held the passion of a former noble leader.

It was a shame that there was one thing wrong with what he said, that infuriated Shadow to no end.

The biohog just barely felt Maria's soft hand place itself onto his shoulder. She was looking down at him with concern, as she wasn't sure to make of this new acquaintance either. She looked worried, but Shadow could tell she was worried about _something else,_ too. She then looked upwards at the twisted and warped structures of the castle. Something was wrong, and she could sense it. She just couldn't put her finger on what.

Shadow took that into mind, before looking back at the true anti-Sonic. "I refuse to let your other half kill Sonic." He stated firmly. "You say you wanted to be heard before it was too late, but when did you even try? You created all of this havoc without even attempting at getting help from him. If you had just explained yourself from the beginning, instead of creating this manic catastrophe of violence and death, he may have stayed by your side and actually listened to what you had to say. You could have made him listen to you the first time you kidnapped him, but no. Your other half got too greedy, letting his creepy mindset get the better of him and kept him as some mindless sex-slave." The ultimate life form tightened his hands into fists. "Sonic is a lot of things, but a killer, he is not. He is a pacifist, with a heart of gold that's overwhelming with a putrid amount of compassion that I still to this day despise. He would have heard you out, he would have tried to understand you, because that's what he did for _me!_ " He yelled while shoving his thumb against his own chest.

The spirit flinched at his tone, even floating backwards with a slightly frightened expression.

"I hurt people, I murdered innocent people with my own bare fucking hands!" He hollered, and he could sense that Maria was placing both of her hands on his shoulders to try and calm him down. But he couldn't, his emotions were running high right now. What the anti-Sonic just said was utter garbage and he refused to let him spout more ignorant nonsense. "I hurt him, more than once. I hurt his friends, I nearly killed my world's Dr. Robotnik. And I didn't just screw up once. I did multiple times, nearly destroying the world twice. And yet, he still fought with his last breath to knock some sense into me, to get me to stop." He gripped his own chest fur, clutching it as he felt his heart pound faster with his own anger. "He took the time to learn everything about me, to understand why I was such a monster. And once he finally got the entire story, which he _didn't_ need to listen to, he still went out of his way to grab my arm and yank me out of the darkness that was pulling me back to my old ways."

The true anti-Sonic listened, but his face still held strong doubt.

Shadow just continued. "If Sonic could help someone as horrible and despicable as me, what makes you think he couldn't help you? _You_ of all people! You're his anti-self! His blood, one of his brethren. You're more connected to him than I'll ever be, so why don't _you_ fucking get it!?" Shadow shouted. "If you're so damn obsessed with him, why couldn't you get that through your thick ass head!?"

 _"Because it doesn't work like that."_ Was all The true anti-Sonic replied with.

Shadow narrowed his eyes angrily. "What did you just say?"

The spirit shook his head while shoving his hands back in his hoodie pockets. _"Please, please believe me when I say we wanted so bad to ask for help."_ He said, his tone quiet and meek. _"Actually, we always wanted to meet Sonic before all of this. We were, fans of his. My other half and I, we thought he was amazing. We knew about his work as a hero, and we thought with his heroism, he could help us lead our kingdom better. But,"_ He grimaced at the floor sadly. _"We weren't allowed. The Divine Spirits prevented me, before I was mutated, to go and find him. No other Sonic, not even Zonic, was allowed to see him during his early youth."_ He floated off to the side a bit. _"After I escaped prison, we...Didn't know what we were doing. All those executions in No Zone Prison nearly destroyed our brain, it made us stupid."_ He said. Shadow remembered Scourge did mention that before. _"We went out of control, we could barely remember what our purpose was. All we had was a vague idea of Sonic prime and the Divine Spirits. Before we knew it, we were hurting Sonic prime. Stealing his identities, forming our alliance to destroy him and his friends...It all became a huge garbled mess, until we got our intelligence back after we escaped prison the second time around. But by then, Sonic's trust in us went down the drain thanks to our stupidity."_

The biohog still wasn't phased. Like he said before, Shadow screwed up many times and Sonic still lent out his hand to him in forgiveness.

What was his point here?

 _"And then, we realized something awful."_ The spirit said. _"We realized that Sonic prime was the Divine Spirits' **original** , their number one. He's more precious to them than any other Sonic in any other reality. Meaning, they monitor him at all times."_ He looked back at Shadow. _"They would have never allowed us to get near him and try to talk out our plan. We're usurpers, traitors to them. Why would they want their favorite pawn talking to a dangerous rebel? The last thing they want is for Sonic to turn on them, too. If we attempted doing things peacefully, they either would have had Zonic arrest us again, or they would have killed us on the spot themselves. That's why we went out of our way to sabotage as much of Sonic prime's world as we could. We had to do things like this, through force, or they would have neutralized us a long time ago._ _Why they never just killed us themselves before all this, we don't know for sure. We have theories, but nothing concrete. Regardless, us creating havoc is what kept them at bay._ _" He just sighed again. "Anyway, I'm not saying what we did was justified, but that's why we couldn't ask for help in a better way. But,"_ He stared at Shadow with a particular glare. _"Right now, my other half is asking for Sonic's help. Right now, right as we speak."_

Shadow didn't like the sound of that, but he didn't have a choice but to take the spirit's word for it. If Scourge was only talking with Sonic, he could only hope that truly was all he was doing with him. He hoped even more nothing else would happen. "Is that truly all he's doing?"

The spirit nodded without hesitation. _"Yes. In fact, him injecting Hyper with Fleetway's energy is the only reason why he's able to have a controversial conversation with him right now. He would have tried to stop him otherwise."_

The biohog scowled. "Frankly, I don't care what your convictions are, I don't care about your reasoning for your actions anymore, and I don't care about either you or your other half." He said coldly. "I just want to find Sonic, and damn it, you _will_ help me."

The spirit shook his head instantly. _"But you'll ruin our plans. You'll ruin everything! We need to defeat the Divine Spirits-"_

"I will help you defeat the Divine Spirits." Shadow stated, making Maria glance down at him in shock. "It doesn't take a genius to realize they're nothing but trouble if they've caused you and many others to go through hell. If a similar fate awaits Sonic, I have no problem with helping you defeat them with guns blazing, but not by murdering him." He said. "I love him, and the last thing I'm going to do is harm a strand of fur on his head. I will find an alternative method, even if it kills me instead. But until then, we find and _save_ Sonic." He instructed forcefully. "Understand?"

Making an unsure frown, the blue eyeless transparent hedgehog fidgeted around. Then, he briefly looked up at the tall transparent human girl standing beside Shadow. She looked concerned, but also persistent. She was staring at the true anti-Sonic with a sense of desperation. She knew Shadow needed all the help he could get right now, and he could feel that she too wanted to save Sonic prime. Honestly, neither Scourge nor the true anti-Sonic actually wanted to kill Sonic, they just _needed_ to. But if they could find an alternative and more merciful way, perhaps going against his other half could do some good instead of bad.

Finally, the spirit and soul of Scourge the hedgehog nodded his head.

 _"Fine. I'll guide you through the castle, and I'll help you find my other half."_

* * *

"So that's everything." Scourge said.

When Scourge went into Sonic's room earlier to retrieve him, he took him to a very spacious and circular room with a single piano inside of it. There were tall and large windows in the back, with curtains drawn to keep out any light that could beam in. When Scourge took Sonic there, he didn't walk him there. He chaos controlled them there. Sonic assumed that Scourge didn't want him to observe or memorize the layout of the castle, or have any chance for him to escape from him side. This means that Sonic still doesn't even know what the outside of that room looks like. He didn't see the halls or any other part of the castle yet. Sure he's already been here before, but something told him that the appearance of the castle altered severely since the last time he's been here.

Before he knew it, he was taken to this lonely, dark and empty room with a piano sitting in the middle of it. Scourge was currently sitting on a cushioned piano bench in front of the large instrument, staring at Sonic with an unreadable expression. The blue hero stood in front of him, listening to him speak. Scourge had told him a bunch of information that explained why he did the things that he did.

Needless to say, it shocked him.

Scourge had told Sonic that he initially planned to mutate himself with the Master Emerald in order to disrupt his...Heat cycle, so that he would no longer be bothered with the process. Just in case it got in the way of his plans. Unfortunately, a seriously bad side effect was the consequence of doing this, something that not even he could predict. Scourge had reversed the effects of his heat cycle onto himself, which was why he was so obsessed with Sonic. Not only that, but because Scourge's shrine was located somewhere in this castle, huge waves of chaos energy was flowing throughout the building. Apparently, Chaos Born were able to stick around after death, and their spirits wander if there was enough chaos energy around.

So basically, anyone who's ever died in this castle more than likely was still walking around with their spirit intact. This damn castle was haunted. But oh no, it gets even more complicated. When Scourge had mutated himself, he separated his soul from his body. Meaning, his spirit was wandering around the castle as well. Also, Scourge could never ask for help or tell Sonic about the Divine Spirits before any of this happened. He explained that the divine ones would have did everything in their power to keep a rebel like him away from Sonic, and that they even would have used Zonic to keep him away if need be. Not only that, but when Scourge had all those failed executions attempts, it brutally damaged his brain. It made his default emotions anger, malevolence and mania, which is why he caused so much havoc with him the first time they met. Which was another reason why he needed to get mutated from the Master Emerald, so it could permanently heal this damage to get his smarts back.

This whole time, Scourge never actually wanted to hurt him like this. He was never in love with him, never genuinely obsessed with him. Everything he did, was all out of his control. The first time they met and fought, him stealing his identity, him stealing his girlfriend, hurting his friend, nearly killing him, kidnapping him, etcetera. Everything, _wasn't directly his fault_. He could never think straight, because his brain was too far gone from everything he had been through.

But...

None of that excused his actions now.

Scourge still committed mass genocide, twice, now three times in his entire life. He still got Sonic's friends hurt, he still destroyed his world and No Zone, he still put Zonic in a permanent state of insanity, he still kidnapped Sonic twice, and kept him hostage. He still did terrible things even after the fact, so why should he feel sorry for him now? The only thing Sonic could maybe forgive, is the fact that he never wanted to sexually harm him at all. But that was if Sonic believed any of this madness coming from his mouth.

Speaking of which, Scourge slowly glanced at Sonic and said: "Do you, believe me?"

Sonic frowned deeply, his eyes lowering and shifting towards the floor as he thought about everything he was told. That other half of him that was haunting this place, was that why Zonic was saying all those weird things back at HQ in No Zone? Was that spirit the very thing Zonic was hallucinating about?

* * *

 _"Ahahaha...Ahahahahaaaa..." There was a permanent smile on his face. "He's there...He's always there...Standing behind you...Hahaha...Ogilvie...You should say hello! Hahaha!"_

* * *

 _"He even told me during his scanning that, he kept seeing things that aren't there. He saw someone who he claimed looked like himself, but he said it wasn't Sonic prime. He also said he saw someone else who looked like the anti-Sonic when he was originally blue."_

* * *

No...

 **That was no hallucination** , Zonic was actually seeing Scourge's spirit the whole time. But, how? If this castle was a place where the dead roamed, Sonic could understand why he could see the spirit now, but all the way in No Zone? How could Zonic of all people see a spirit then and there? And did he say he saw **two people** , not just Scourge's other half? Was that other person the hallucination, or was that real too?

After licking his now dry lips, Sonic asked Scourge a question instead of answering the previous one. "That other half of yours, does it follow you?"

Scourge nodded. "Yup. Since it's my soul, he follows me, the husk, everywhere I go. Watching me," He scowled. "Judging me..."

If it followed Scourge, that would explain why Zonic could see it all the way in No Zone. Sonic still didn't know what to make of this, though. As the hero contemplated all of this information, he saw Scourge graze his finger tips against the piano keys. Then, he began to tap a few black and white keys. Sonic didn't know how to play the piano, he only knew how to play the guitar. He could only assume Scourge knew how to not only play the piano, but other instruments as well. He began playing a small melody that Sonic swore he heard somewhere before.

As he began to play the piano, Scourge briefly glanced at Sonic before looking back at the keys. He didn't even have any notes held up, he was just playing freehanded. "I'm gonna be honest with ya for a sec," He said while raising his voice a bit so Sonic could hear him over the music. "I just want you to be happy. Ya know, before everything goes down." Sonic could tell the song that he was playing had a slow beat, and it sounded a little sad. "I am sorry for hurting you so much in the past. I did a lot of fucked up shit to you," He said in a gentle tone while pushing more keys. "I mind controlled you several times, making you touch me, letting me touch you. I beat you up, I hurt your boyfriend, I hurt Zonic, someone you look up to. I made you see some real fucked up things-"

"Yeah, you did." Sonic retorted with a rougher tone. "You think that apology is gonna fix how I feel about you?" He asked rhetorically. "I hate you, I freakin' despise you." He spat, his fists lightly shaking by his sides and tightly gripped. "You ruined my life, and many others. You destroyed my world."

Scourge sighed and ceased playing. He completely turned around to face Sonic with a blank expression. No sneer, no smarminess in his voice at all. "I know you do, and you should. Heck, that's why I never wanted anyone to know my past. I dunno about you," He stood up from the seat and began pacing around the piano. "But I like villains who don't have a backstory. Gives you an excuse to hate them, rightfully so. There's no sympathy card to be played." He placed his hands behind his back. "While I'd love nothing more than for you to love me, or at the very least respect me, I think it's better if you did hate me. Because you wouldn't be a good person if you didn't. Well, you wouldn't be in my eyes, anyway." He shook his head, as he started to sound like he was talking to himself. "No one should forgive bad people for unforgivable things like that. I never wanted you to feel like you had to take pity on me just because I went through some tough shit, I just didn't want ya to believe in Zonic all that much. At the end of the day, he's an enabler too."

"None of that shit was his fault!"

"And you're right." Scourge replied while turning his head towards him. "It's _not_ entirely his fault, no. It's the Divine Spirits'." He rose his hand to point at him. "The evil bastards you keep inside of your body."

Sonic stiffened his posture, before scowling and looking away. "Don't point the finger at me, I didn't have control over what they did."

Scourge shook his head. "Didn't say ya did. I'm just saying you need to realize _why_ I'm doing all of this. Blue," He cleared his throat and corrected himself. "Sorry. _Sonic,_ " He addressed with respect and sincerity, making Sonic raise his head and look his way. "I am asking you, as nicely and humanely as I possibly can **before my personality alters again** ," His face grew serious, and he walked around from the piano to move closer to Sonic. The hero took a few steps backwards as a reflex, and Scourge stopped to hold his hand out to him. "Please. Listen to me, and help me stop them."

The blue hedgehog's frown deepened. "I don't know how to stop them, they're a part of me."

His anti-self nodded. "I am aware. That's why I'm hurting you so much, because **you need to die.** "

Knee-jerk reaction? Sonic was obviously appalled and offended. "D...Die?" He repeated while blinking. "Are you kidding me right now? I don't want to die!"

"I know, but you're a hero. You need to make this sacrifice. You and I together, all we have to do is have a huge epic battle that'll cause a supernova. They'll cease to exist, other Chaos Born in other realities will soon die off. Then, I kill you, and I kill myself." He started to smile a little. "We could save the entire multiverse, then we can both be heroes. I'll finally be able to stand by you as a martyr, a true hero to everyone." His smile widened, and he started to pace around again while talking as if he was speaking to no one but himself. "Yeah, I'll finally be like you...I'll finally be what I always dreamed of being...A good person, who saves people, who can make people smile and be happy..." He turned back to Sonic, his expression changing drastically. A demented and twisted grin was plastered onto his face, his fangs in clear view with his now bulging and shrunken eyes glimmering with a false hope of malicious heroism. "Doesn't that sound _great!?_ " He asked with a ghastly excited voice. "We'll both be heroes! We'll save everyone, together! How fun could that be!?"

Sonic's eye began to twitch as he started to back away even more and more, as slowly and carefully as possible. This guy was fucking insane, there was absolutely no sense in talking to him. He just switched his entire demeanor like a flip of a coin. "..." He couldn't even say anything, he was too disturbed.

Scourge walked closer towards him. "Ah? Where are you going? Didn't you hear me? We'll be heroes together! Isn't that nice? Wouldn't you like that? I can finally be a good guy!" Drool was falling from his lips. "That's why I wanna make your final days here extra happy and special, because it'll be your _last hours alive._ I wanna make you smile before that happens, and I want you to die without any regrets like me!"

Sonic ended up backing himself against a wall, his ears flattening as he could feel the full force of Scourge's madness looming upon him with his stretching shadow.

The green one grasped his prime self's wrists, holding them in his hands affectionately. "I'll bring you gourmet meals everyday, and I'll even let you run outside! You'll still be cuffed to me as a safety measure, but you'll still be able to run as free as the wind!" He said with glee. "I'm just as if not smarter than Tails, so I could make whacky inventions all day to make you feel nostalgia if you start feeling homesick." The red veins in his eyes were black-looking, just like his blood. And they were pulsing on his eyeballs. "If you start missing Stripes, I can make myself look like him. I'm really good at impressions! I'm good as roleplaying as Zonic too, I promise! You'll want for nothing, _you'll be so happy!_ "

"..." The hero's peach lips quivered a bit, as they wanted to speak. "...You're, only saying that," He started off quietly. "You're only saying that, because of your mutation," He said cautiously. "Right?"

Scourge froze. "...Huh?"

Sonic furrowed his brows. "That's the mutation's heat cycle effecting you, it's making you talk like that. Isn't it? You just warned me that your personality would change soon. Was this what you meant?"

Suddenly, the green hedgehog let go of Sonic's hands and wiped his saliva dripping mouth with the back of his sleeve. He turned his back towards him, before heading off back to the piano bench. He slowly sat down, placing his arms between his legs with his hands folded. "Yeah," Scourge mumbled. "You're right, sorry. I," He placed his fingers onto the keys, lowering his head with a more mundane expression. "I acted out again." He murmured as he began playing that song again. Now he was acting as if nothing happened just now. "This song is called Claire De Lune, by the way." He said.

The hero slid down onto the floor, landing on his bottom as he placed a hand over his head. A puddle of Scourge's drool was sitting right in front of him. He was trapped in this room with a lunatic, he really needed to get the hell out of here. But how?

"Sonic," Scourge suddenly said to him. "You do realize that you're going to end up like me one day," He paused. "Right?"

Sonic blinked. "...What?"

"You'll turn mad like me, eventually." He said while pushing more keys, a beautiful and melancholy melody echoing throughout the room once more. "That happens to all Chaos Born, it's all in their plans. We all become tyrants so we can rule over our respective realities accordingly. I almost became a tyrant to my people, that's why I killed them before I lost control and enslaved them. Plenty of other Sonics in other realities have already turned. And soon," He tapped a few more keys with delicate pacing. "It'll be your turn."

He...

...Would end up just like him?

"That's why I always told you, all it takes is one bad day," He said. "And you end up just like me."

End up just like him.

"That's why it'd be better, if we all just died off."

Just, like him.

* * *

 _"I just wanna see you smile because of me. Laugh because of me. Hate because of me. Kill because of me. Love for me! Do everything for me!"_

 _That's..._

 _...Exactly what_ he _would say, isn't it?_

 _"_ **No...** _" Sonic murmured to himself, his voice shaky. "_ **N-No...** _" He was turning into him. He was_ turning _into him._

* * *

No...

 _You'll turn mad like me, eventually._

Scourge wasn't even using his power on him to make him turn crazy, he didn't even say anything else to him. Sonic was internally having his own mental break down. Was, was all of that true? Is that why Zonic crumbled before he was kidnapped in No Zone? Is that why he nearly hurt Shadow in that apartment? Was that why he was born with two 'pure' deities and two potentially evil ones? Was he just, going to end up all like them?

Was, was this why...

Was this why he-

-Why he hurt Tails before?

Was this why the deities silenced Zonic? Was this why they kept trying to stop Scourge from confessing to Sonic all of this information? Was this why Zonic tried to poison Scourge to kill him? Was this why Sonic didn't see the truth, because the deities inside of him were influencing him from the very beginning? Was he really their puppet, just playing the hero for as long as he could until they changed their minds and forced him to become a tyrant too? Who would have been enslaved first? Amy, Knuckles, Tails? Since they obviously hate Overlanders, would they have made Sonic kill Eggman first? And is that why Sonic's never had a hard time with them? Because as their perfect Champion, Sonic was allowed to do whatever the hell he wanted without any restrictions? His view of the Divine Spirits were important, and his view of them was flawless before all of this.

Is that why they never bothered him yet?

They never wanted him to know that they abandoned Zonic and basically allowed Ogilvie to get raped as punishment. They never wanted Sonic to know that they made all the other Sonics in other realities turn crazy and power hungry. They didn't want him to know that they were ruthless and cutthroat. Or at the very least, they didn't want him to know that **_Hyper_ was**. They wanted Sonic to believe that at the very least, Super and Hyper were the good forms of his. They wanted him to believe that they only existed for his benefit, even the bad ones. But in reality, he only existed for _their_ benefit, because he was their number one Chaos Born.

 **Their number one puppet on a string.**

They never rushed Sonic into mating at a specific age, because they wanted their number one puppet to actually enjoy having a love life. They didn't want to make it obvious that they didn't truly care about him, because they didn't want him to wake the hell up and revolt against them like Scourge did. That's why Hyper always whispered in his ear not to sleep with certain girls. He wanted his maidenhood to be taken away by someone who could help make Sonic a decent offspring. Any normal Mobian wouldn't do, they needed something better than that. Someone that wasn't quite a Chaos Born, but just as convincing. That person was Shadow, and that's why Hyper was happy when Sonic lost his virginity to him.

So their love, **it was all planned.**

It was all a sham, a plan created by the spirits. Him falling in love with Shadow, Shadow falling in love with him. Them having sex, them being semi-connected emotionally via wavelength, it was all bullshit. Was that why everyone on Mobius loved him? Because they were all _supposed_ to eventually worship him as slaves? Tails' brotherly love, Amy's admiration love, Knuckles' guardian love, it was all garbage. None of this, none of this was real. Everything he's ever done, everything he's ever experienced, it was all lies.

Oh God, he was going to be sick.

 _Please_ , let none of this be true.

"S...S-Scourge?" Sonic stammered in calling his name. "Does this mean, since I'm the Champion and they want to keep me happy, that everything in my world is a lie too? Like my friends, my fame," He swallowed hard. "Even, Shadow?"

And then, Scourge did and said something Sonic wished he didn't.

He slowly turned to him with a sad smile, his eyes now lightly shining with empathy and sympathy. His expression was sweet, and his voice was even warm. He had stopped playing the piano again and everything, just to say these words to him.

"I'm so sorry, Blue."

...

Tears formed in his eyes.

Sonic gripped the sides of his head while clenching his teeth.

Scourge exhaled deeply, before standing up from the piano bench. "For what it's worth," The green one said as he began walking over to his prime self. This time, Sonic didn't flinch, and he didn't run away. He just sat there in the corner, glaring down at the floor as his tears slowly dripped from his lowered eye sockets. Scourge crouched down to his side, before sitting beside him. "The deities didn't make Shadow fall in love with you." He started to slip off his noble jacket, before wrapping it around Sonic's shoulders. "That part, _his_ part was genuine." He slowly raised a hand and pet his head, noticing Sonic's flattened ears. "He's not faking what he feels for you, not at all. How you guys met, wasn't fake. I'm sure the Divine Spirits knew you'd eventually find each other, because I know damn well they knew of Shadow and what he was. But I'm almost positive they didn't manipulate you guys into getting together. That was all a happy accident. That's why I'm so jealous, because no one's ever felt as passionate and loving to me, as he does for you."

"N-No," Sonic whispered as more tears dripped below him. "T-They couldn't have been, lying to me this whole time. They can't do that to me. I," His body trembled. "I refuse to believe that, I can't accept that..."

The green one began to run his fingers through his blue fur. "I know Blue, but this is what I've been trying to tell you this whole time. _I'm not the bad guy here._ " He said. "You saw Zonic's memories, and you heard what he said. There's plenty of other Sonics going through exactly what we're going through. This deadly cycle keeps repeating, over, over and over and it needs to stop. You can't ignore all of this evidence, this is for real." He lowered his hand to his face, caressing the side of his muzzle. "That's why there's no hope for us, that's why we need to be extinguished. But there's still hope for everyone else. For Knuckles, for Amy, Tails and other people in the multiverse. We can still save them, you can still be a hero. Even now."

The hero sniffled and closed his eyes. "Then why," He whimpered. "W-Why did you hurt so many people?"

"Because it was all to keep the Divine Spirits down. I needed to kill all those people so Fleetway could make a full contract with me, but I also wanted to destroy Angel Island and _**Christmas Island**_. Those were two gateways for the spirits to go to as a failsafe, and I wanted to get rid of that to strip them of even more power. Not only that, but it would stop anymore Chaos Born from your world to be spawned." He then frowned to the side. "Though, I don't think that plan worked, 'cause I can tell Fleetway didn't lose any power. But still," He said while placing a hand onto his shoulder. "You can still fix that damage anyway. If you turned into Hyper right now, I'm positive you could fix your world and Zonic's world in no time flat, because he's _that_ powerful. And after you do that, we'll have our fight, die ourselves and free everybody." He tried to level with him. "Look, I know dying seems a little scary, but I'll be with you when it happens. You won't be alone, I promise. We'll end up haunting this place, but that's okay. I'll make sure you'll be happy, even in the afterlife."

But he didn't want to leave Shadow or his friends back at home.

 _He wanted Shadow._

He wanted to go _home._

"Oh," Scourge sighed sadly. "You're probably still thinking about Shadow, and your friends when you leave them behind." Did he read his mind or something? "They'll remember you as a savior, Sonic. It's fine-"

"It's not fucking fine." He abruptly cut him off.

The green hedgehog just rose his hands in defeat and stood up from his side. He could tell he needed to be alone right now. "Maybe it's time you go back to your room."

Sonic didn't say a word back, nor did he protest.

He just kept his eyes closed as Scourge helped him off the floor, and chaos controlled them back in the king's bedroom.

* * *

 **END - 46**

 **(EDIT: SO sorry for the wait, I'm working through some college stuff right now because ya girl just got accepted! Whaaat? Yeaaahh, that's right, y'all. I'm gonna be a college girl soon! Hell yeah! Anyway, that's why this chapter took so damn long to come out. Again, sorry.)**

 **Remember when I told ya'll that something was very wrong with Scourge to make him act this way?**

 **And remember how I said before that Scourge being this way was somewhat his fault? I still stand by that because even though Scourge's brain was damaged (which is why he acted a fool before the events of HNR), he managed to get a little better. Let's be honest, Scourge said before that the trauma to his head that he suffered in prison caused his intellect and better sense of judgement to go down the drain. That's BEFORE all of this happened. As you can see, he got his intelligence back, and his wits returned to him. In other words, Scourge could have went to get mental help to try and tame his insanity.**

 **Would this have worked? Honestly, probably not thanks to the Divine Spirits. Their process of turning their 'children' mad happens eventually either way, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. But the point is, that Scourge would have at least _tried._ If he at least tried, he couldn't be entirely blamed. But he gave up the second he realized nothing would work to help him.**

 **In my eyes, if you had at least tried, you're not _entirely_ to blame.**

 **But if you did absolutely nothing, then you're definitely no better, either.**

 _(Join my Discord server for updates/discussions on HNR and other Sonadow goodness! The invite code is yCwbWvn.)_


	52. Starving Doormat

**47 - Starving Doormat**

* * *

 _ **The Next Day**_

Chaos, how many hours has it been? They've been running all around this joint, looking through upside down doors and rooms that led to no where. This place was a lot more confusing than Shadow anticipated. The true anti-Sonic kept them on a steady path, but it felt like they weren't getting any closer to Sonic. Maria took the liberty of looking in other places as well along the way, just to make sure they didn't miss any trace of the hero. There were some instances where Maria and anti-Sonic could phase through a wall, but Shadow would have to take an alternative way to get to where they are. Usually through another odd room or twisted staircase, That took up more time, and made things a little more difficult.

Shadow was positive they went up a few floors through all their traveling. As of now, they were walking down a corridor of floating furniture. Shadow could see spirits and other ghostly apparitions float across the ceilings. The anti-Sonic wasn't kidding, this place really was haunted. There were dozens of them in here. Every single one of them were hedgehogs, too. They must have been related to Scourge in some way. Maria didn't like them, as she kept giving them dirty looks while hiding behind the biohog as they went along. Like she could sense something was up with them. They ignored them, though. The spirits didn't seem to care for anyone that was passing by them. Their eyes were empty, and they didn't make a peep. Anti-Sonic did warn them however, that it is best not to bother them. They're neutral, but will become hostile if they're disturbed. Don't bother them, and they won't become trouble.

As more transparent Moebian bodies drifted in the air, Shadow moved on and ignored them like instructed. He hated that he couldn't just run, walking slow and carefully like this was wasting time. Yes, he did need to be cautious in this castle, especially with all these ghosts around, but he almost didn't care. Sonic could be in danger, and he was taking his sweet ass time. He walked a little closer towards the blue see-through hedgehog in front of him, and put his hand through his body to get his attention. It's not like he could tap him on the shoulder. "Hey." He said with a quiet voice. He didn't want to alert the other spirits around them.

The anti-Sonic paused and turned around to face Shadow. He rose a brow and tilted his head in confusion. In other words, 'why did you stop us?'

"Are we getting any closer to Sonic? It feels like we're barely making any progress in this damn place." He shivered, hugging his hands to his arms as he felt chills up his spine. "Not to mention it's freezing in here." He realized why, though. So that myth about the temperature dropping whenever a spirit was nearby, wasn't a myth at all. It was pretty chilly in this corridor, even for someone covered head to toe in fur.

Scourge's other half grimaced. _"We are getting closer,"_ He said with slight anxiety in his words. _"But we are still a great distance away from him."_ After listening, Shadow's face grew irritated. The blue one nervously gulped. _"S-Sorry, but if we try rushing through here, we'll alert one of the others."_ He pointed upwards, gesturing to the other ghosts flying amongst them. _"Sonic prime is in the king's personal chambers, but it's been twisted and altered just like the other rooms in this castle. Now it's where the basement's supposed to be. But the only way to get there, is to get to the highest floor where there's a single door that leads to the basement."_

"Well, can't I at least get Maria to give me strength so I can try to pin point Sonic's wavelength?" He needed to know that he was okay, and he could know that through their wavelength. Right now, their wavelength was severed and discombobulated because of his low energy and this distorted mess they called a castle. If he had his energy back, he could at least try to purge through and pin point Sonic's location.

The anti-Sonic shook his head. _"Sorry. I don't know if you two realized this, but you're both separated right now. If you wanted to turn super, you couldn't. Because your super form,"_ He turned to Maria. _"Which is this young lady here, is away from you. She is no longer in her host's body. Even if spirits are visible here, you still shouldn't be able to see her. If you can, that means you two were forcibly split up."_ He frowned to himself. _"I don't know why that would be, though."_

That's when it hit him.

Shadow cursed. "Shit." When he pushed the castle doors open and broke the barrier, that corrupted energy must have penetrated through his body and forced Maria out of him. That was probably why he was able to hear her towards the end, and why it was so damn painful. He accidentally ripped his own form out of himself from the reaction. The girl, despite not being inside of her host, could feel this realization and his eventual disappointment. It was his fault that he couldn't get his energy back quicker. She frowned and placed her hand onto his shoulder as they walked.

Both Shadow and Maria made a tired groan, face palming at the same time. Why did everything involving Scourge have to be so damn complicated? Thanks to that damn barrier and all this corrupted power, they were set back even more. Still, Shadow had to commend Scourge for his restructuring of the castle. Shadow would have never thought to look for such a place. Hell, he wouldn't have been able to get this far without the true anti-Sonic as his guide. Scourge made this place look like this because he knew Shadow would wind up coming back here. He wanted to make it harder for him to find Sonic, obviously. This twisted haunted castle was constructed and manipulated for intruders just like him.

But wasn't there a way for him to make this trip go just a little bit faster? He was worried, and he needed to get closer to Sonic. He needed to find him and fast. Shadow was more than positive a day had already passed since they traveled, he couldn't waste anymore time! All they had to do was go down this corridor next, right? Shadow turned to the anti-Sonic apparition. "I'm going to run from now on. You lead the way once we get out of this corridor." He instructed, before charging up his shoes and running full force down the hall. Maria followed behind him, but the anti-Sonic began to panic.

He floated after them as fast as he could while holding up his hand to make them stop. _"Stop!"_ He tried to yell, but to no avail. Instead, Shadow instantly caught the attention of the other spirits surrounding the corridor. They all instantly froze, before looking down at the ultimate life form speeding down the hall. They then started floating in his direction along with the anti-Sonic, tailing him from behind. Shadow could feel cold air hit the back of his quills, and he could tell that Maria suddenly felt uncomfortable as he skated. She floated a little farther ahead of him, and pointed behind him with a disgruntled expression on her face. Shadow mentally cursed himself and skidded his skates to a halt. He then turned around to see what was behind them. Maria instantly hid behind him again, her face making one of those dirty looks again.

Shadow's eyes widened.

Anti-Sonic's spirit was there, but behind him, were several dozen other apparitions staring right at him. They were no longer distracted, they were alerted just like he feared. Shadow took a step backwards slowly, surveying his surroundings with a scowl. Okay, this was _bad_ , but it could be worse. They didn't seem hostile, just curious as to why a living Mobian and an Overlander spirit were amongst their walls. But then, Shadow realized they weren't just staring at him, they were kind of eyeballing the anti-Sonic, too. Though they didn't have pupils, Shadow could tell his appearance here was baffling them as well. The anti-Sonic, he looked absolutely terrified of a particular couple of ghosts before them. He was shaking, his teeth gnawing against each other.

When Shadow met his gaze with the apparitions he was trembling from, he noticed something. There was a female, here. A female hedgehog. She looked blue as well, and she also didn't have any eyes. Beside her was a taller hedgehog, an older male. They both seemed, lost. The female was drooling, and it looked as if she wasn't really looking at anything in particular. She was wearing a tattered and ripped up white dress that reached her ankles. Her dress was heavily bloodied, as were her face and her chest. As for the male, he looked tense and angry. He wore formal clothing, such as a vest, tie and slacks. However, his clothes were also tattered and torn up with blood stains. What happened to them?

Still, it didn't seem as if he was looking at anything specific either. Did neither of them notice Shadow? The red striped hedgehog turned to the true anti-Sonic, who was now looking back at him. He worded something drastic to him. _"Don't. Move."_

Shadow steadied his nerves and looked to the side to see Maria do the same, making herself completely frozen.

Through the crowd of ghosts, those two particular spirits made their way towards them. They floated to Shadow and began eyeing both him and Maria. Then, they turned and stared at the anti-Sonic. The female hedgehog's drool dripped right in front of him, her head slightly twitching here and there. The male hedgehog kept grunting and making erratic movements. Shadow really didn't like this, and these two were making things extremely cold for him. Being around the anti-Sonic didn't do anything because he wasn't actually a spirit since he wasn't actually dead. Being around Maria made him feel warm, perhaps because she was his super form. But these two? It felt like Shadow was standing in the middle of a tundra.

That being said, Shadow's body made a few reflexes that he couldn't control. Whenever the body was in low temperatures, it would attempt at heating itself back up by shivering. And that's exactly what Shadow did, he shivered from the chilliness of the room. That was enough to register as 'movement', disobeying exactly what the anti-Sonic told him not to do.

Both of those strange hedgehogs began to look directly at him, before screaming their literal bloody heads off.

Shadow's ears instantly flattened, and Maria shot her hands up to her own while cringing. The anti-Sonic clenched his teeth as the horrid sound screeched echoed off the walls. He then looked at Shadow again and mouthed, _"RUN."_

 _Run?_ No way, he could take these guys. He wouldn't let them stand in the way of reaching Sonic, and he didn't care if they were Scourge's dead relatives or not. He tightened his fists and got into a fighting stance, chaos energy focusing in his knuckles. However, before he could charge forward and throw a punch at the male hedgehog, he was the one who struck first. Shadow expected a straight up punch in the face, but instead, he watched as his arm went directly through his body. Huh. Right, _ghosts_. Okay, so why-"Ngh..!" Oh. _Oh_ , so that's why he struck him. _Okay_ , his God damn chaos energy was draining. Shadow instantly stepped back while wincing, feeling slightly weakened after that invisible hit. The biohog couldn't hit him since he was incorporeal, and he couldn't hit Shadow, but he could drain his energy.

Yeah, maybe he _should_ run after all.

Shadow turned the other cheek and bolted down the corridor. He didn't want to run away, but he didn't have a choice. For one, he'd be wasting time dealing with an enemy he didn't understand. Two, there were way too many spirits surrounding them, who's to say the rest of them wouldn't turn hostile too? He'd get ambushed. Three, Shadow needed what little chaos energy he had left. He couldn't waste it trying to fight that guy, he needed to reserve his powers help Sonic. The quicker he found him, the less he'd have to worry about other adversaries that could fly through walls.

With Maria and the true anti-Sonic following close behind him, Shadow rounded the corner and kept moving. Scourge's other half floated a little in front of him and began guiding him to Sonic's direction. Good, at least they were moving at a much faster pace now-What the hell was _that!?_ Shadow's ears perked up as he skidded to a halt. Something was screaming it's head off again. It must have been those two hedgehog spirits from before. Damn it-"...!" A hand had stretched itself through the wall behind him. It was transparent, and the sleeve of that hand was bloody and feminine. It was the woman this time. Slowly, her face phased through the wall as she tried swinging at Shadow. He ducked and instantly ran off to join the anti-Sonic's side again.

This time despite all that hollering and ear curdling screaming, he didn't stop. As he ran, he looked to his right to see the anti-Sonic looking frightened and alarmed. Maria once again looked very uncomfortable, but not afraid. Still, she stuck by Shadow. The ultimate life form demanded that the blue transparent hedgehog explain what the hell was going on. "What the _hell_ is going on!?"

Anti-Sonic glanced behind them worriedly before looking back in front of himself. _"Those are my parents, you need to avoid them at all costs. They were the most hostile during life and death, and they'll continue following you until they sap you of your energy."_ Oh well that's lovely. _"They're dead Chaos Born, the only thing they can feed off of is chaos energy. That's why they linger in places that's abundant in the stuff. But you, that's all you're made of. You're nothing but fodder to them, and you're an intruder in their castle. They want you dead!"_ So basically, Scourge's warped version of a security system. How beautiful.

But last time, Scourge had the anti-Amy and Miles guarding this place. When he and Sonic were previously here, they didn't see any ghosts. Why were they apparent now? "What about the anti-Amy and Miles? Why not use them to thwart me off at the castle doors like last time? And why am I just able to see any of you now? None of this happened the last time Sonic and I were here!"

The anti-Sonic shook his head. _"When he returned to the castle after you two left, he kicked Rosy out of the entire kingdom. Miles ran off, we don't know where he is."_ That's right, Sonic let him go. The moment they left his side, the vulpine had disappeared. _"We were always here the entire time, you just weren't in the right place. Scourge's throne has a hidden room underneath the chair that holds his sacred shrine. That's where everyone was hidden and where all that power was sealed up, while I just followed where ever Scourge went since he was my husk. But since he and Fleetway reconstructed the castle into a maze,_ _everyone escaped to different parts of the building and_ _everything's in literal chaos."_

Shadow sucked his teeth. Of course that was the case. "I'm sick of this bullshit, just tell me when we get close to Sonic-" Another fucking scream. Good God, why did this have to be a freakin' _haunted castle_ of all things? Shadow could feel that they were still hot on their trail, no matter how fast he moved his legs, and no matter how fast they could float. This would take forever, and the anti-Sonic said they wouldn't rest until they devoured Shadow of his energy. They had to hide somewhere for a while. Shadow jumped over flipped over tables and floating chairs, dodging spinning levitating paintings and drifting tablecloth.

As they neared another wall, that same woman from before phased through and tried grabbing at him again. He nearly lost one of his quills thanks to that broad. He wasn't surprised these people were Scourge's parents, it would explain some of his mental issues. Maria yelped as she even tried grabbing for her blonde hair. The anti-Sonic grabbed the human girl's wrist and dodged his mother's persistent swings and grabs. Why was she after _them_ now? They were already dead! Shadow wanted to yell at the female hedgehog to make her stop, until the anti-Sonic's father abruptly joined them. Drifting and growling from behind the biohog, he tried swinging at the ultimate life form. Shadow thankfully dodged at the last second and ran on ahead while yelling for Maria and the anti-Sonic to catch up immediately.

Scourge's father yelled curses while his mother drooled and continuously screamed bloody murder. As the woman's screams echoed off the halls, Shadow winced in pain. Her screams were really starting to hurt his ears, that alone was causing damage. Any nearby mirrors that just so happened to fly through the halls shattered instantly thanks to her shrill voice. Maria could see the pain in Shadow's face, causing her to scowl angrily. She pulled her arm away from the anti-Sonic and stopped moving. Shadow had whirred right passed her, only to notice that she was staying behind. He instantly skidded to a stop once again and yelled for her to continue moving. "Maria! Get back here! They'll hurt you!"

The anti-Sonic also tried getting the girl back, and floated by her side to seize her wrist once more to pull her away before his parents arrived. However, the girl didn't move an inch. She rose a hand in front of herself, full open palm. Her hair began to raise in the air as her blue eyes shined a color Shadow recognized. Red. But not just any shade of red, it was the same _amber red_ he and Sonic's eyes turned to whenever they went Super. A golden aura charged through her fingertips and focused into her palm. With furrowed brows and a determined expression, a bright yellow light singed throughout the environment. Just as Scourge's mother and father rushed towards the three, that light blinded them. They screeched and looked away, covering their eyes while wailing in agony.

Maria turned to face Shadow and pointed ahead. _"That way. Let's go, now!"_ She said. She then took anti-Sonic's hand and floated to Shadow's side as the ultimate life form started back up again to run along. The anti-Sonic instructed which way to go, telling them to go left or right, to ascend up some stairs, or descend down an unknown trapdoor. They ran as quick as they could, trying to get as far away from their assailants as possible, and closer to Sonic. After fifteen straight minutes of sprinting, they realized that they no longer heard anymore screams or angry yelling. Shadow slowed to a stop one last time, and hunched beside a wall to rest his hand on. He peaked his head around the corner of it to look and see if they were still after them.

...

...

...Okay, he didn't see anyone.

He sighed and turned to the human girl. Her golden blonde hair was still raised, and her eyes still twinkled that amber red color. He made a small smile at her, and she returned a warm one. That was amazing of her, he had no idea she could just do that on her own. "Maria, I didn't know you could do something like that." He said. "That was amazing."

She shrugged with a sheepish smile. _"I-I honestly don't know how I did that. My emotions got the better of me, I suppose?"_

The anti-Sonic saw the girl's bright expression, and his face began coloring pink from it for some reason. _"...W-Well,"_ He mumbled while poking his fingers together. _"Spirits who roam in a place that's filled with chaos energy can get seriously powerful so, you could do a lot of things you couldn't do before here. That's why shrines are so useful. It's thanks to Scourge's shrine being out in the open that you can use your power as Shadow's Divine Spirit."_

Shadow walked in front of the girl and stared at her hand, wishing he could hold it. "I don't care what the reason for it is, Maria's amazing." He spoke with pride. "End of story."

The dimples on the girl's face became evident as her smile widened. She instantly bent down and wrapped her longer arms around his frame, nuzzling her head against his. Shadow flinched, but instantly felt at ease. It was strange. He couldn't touch her, but it felt like she could most definitely touch him. He could feel her warmth and her smooth skin, her soft hair and delicate lashes batting against his fur. _"I'm just doing my job,"_ She whispered to him. _"Protecting you, because I love you."_ Yes, she's the one who taught him that people did crazy things for the for the ones they loved.

The anti-Sonic found himself smiling at the scene as Shadow closed his eyes in tranquility. Having her arms around him and feeling her warmth all over again was all he ever wanted since her death.

And then, Shadow suddenly felt weak in the legs.

He coughed up blood, and fell to his knees. His ear flicked, he knew for sure Maria gasped with fright. She immediately knelt down to his side, and tried getting him to sit up correctly. However, he was having a hard time doing so, as he kept puking blood on the floor in front of himself. He felt so tired, he suddenly felt like he wanted to sleep forever. Tears ran down her face as she caressed his muzzle tried making him look at her in the eyes. He couldn't though, he couldn't focus his gaze on her. The anti-Sonic tried helping as well, by trying to pull the ultimate life form's arms.

But it was no use, Shadow couldn't move.

Shadow fell forward onto his face, his left eye twitching as he fought to stay awake. He heard that horrendous wailing again from behind, and it grew louder slowly. He could see Maria and the anti-Sonic back away in his peripheral vision. Maria looked both distraught and very exasperated, while the anti-Sonic looked terrified. It was his parents. They were backing themselves against a wall that they could easily phase through, but they didn't. Rather, Maria refused to run away. She planted her feet down and gripped her hands into tightened fists. Her hair rose even higher as her eyes turned completely amber. Shadow could feel all the rage and desperation in her power as she raised both hands into the air. The anti-Sonic looked her way with shock, as he didn't expect her to release even more power so soon.

Shadow could feel the temperature drop once more, and it felt like something cold was breathing frost into his ear. He felt something wet and warm drip through his muzzle, and he could tell it was see-through saliva. It was that woman again. In the background, he heard a man spouting curses and other nonsense from his mouth. That was the father. Suddenly, Shadow's eyes shrunk as he coughed out more blood. That's when he felt something shove itself directly into his back and through his stomach. That had to have been someone's arm. They were draining more energy out of him, and it was _painful_. More than anything, it was _slow_. Shadow's pain receptors were on absolute high, and he couldn't help but scream in immense pain as a sheer reflex.

Upon seeing this firsthand, Maria's amber eyes faded back into a devastated and submissive blue. _"No! Shadow!"_ She yelled out.

"Mar..." He could barely say her name. "Ia..." He couldn't stay awake, he was going to black out. The human girl spirit rose her hands to her hair and gripped the sides of her head as her knees buckled. _No_ , this couldn't be happening. She couldn't lose him, she couldn't let him join her and her grandfather. _Not yet_. She suddenly growled and let go of her hair to regain her composure. She grit her teeth with an enraged expression, her growls soon becoming snarls. Her eyes glowed a bright amber again with stronger vigor and greater strength.

Darkness overcame Shadow, just as Maria's screamed a deadly cry.

* * *

Knuckles had did what Tikal said, and went inside of the bunker to talk with the droid.

...

...At least, that's what he wanted to do.

He couldn't, because the robot was _offline_ for some weird ass reason.

It would not respond to anything Knuckles would say or do. It's lights were off, and it's metal head hung low with it's arms slunk over as if someone threw it against a wall like a broken action figure.

The echidna just growled, before turning right around and marching back out of the bunker. He would be in front of the alter all night, until the very next day.

Really? That thing needed to fall asleep now of all times? Why? Did Omega do that? Did the prime version of Omega just go into sleep mode here and there randomly? That thing held Fiona captive. Would it's body keep her locked in there tight while it was asleep, or could she bust out anytime she wanted now that it was offline? Not to mention, that was their only source of internet, right now. Would the wi-fi still work even with it being shut off?

These were all questions Knuckles desperately wanted to ask Tails, but the child was still asleep. The last thing he wanted to do is disturb him since the kid literally had no wink of shut-eye in days.

Sigh.

...

...Wait, did the laptop just get a notification?

* * *

A lie.

His life, was a lie.

His entire life, was a lie.

His friends, his life as a hero, him being some fucking 'Champion of All Realities', all a damn set up. None of it was real, none of it was earned. He was just a puppet, a doll on strings. His power wasn't even his own, it was all blessings from the Divine Spirits. Nothing was his own. Not his powers, not his personality, not his sense of justice, not even his own speed. He couldn't take this, he couldn't take this anymore. He wanted to get out of here, but he didn't want to go home anymore. He just wanted to go to an isolated white space, and sit there alone while staring at nothing. He just wanted isolation, he just wanted to be alone.

Forever.

The bedroom doors creaked open and he heard footsteps walk in. Sonic felt himself scowl. Of fucking course he'd come in now. God damn it, why him? Sonic covered his face with his hands and laid back on the bed while rolling on his side. He took the covers and yanked them onto his form, covering himself up to his chin. He then pulled them up more to cover his face, he really didn't feel like talking to his kidnapper right now. As he heard his footsteps get louder and closer across the floor, Sonic felt his stomach growl. Damn it, he was hungry again. He didn't even notice until now. But that was just too bad, he'd rather starve than eat any food right now.

"Oh Blue~," That annoying voice said. "I heard your stomach growl, and it's been several hours since the last time you ate. You need to eat."

Sonic stiffened and growled. "Fuck you."

Scourge sighed and pulled the curtains of the canopy aside to move over and sit onto the bed. "No need to be difficult Blue, I don't want you getting weak again. Trust me, starving fuckin' hurts. Take it from a guy who used to purge like Zonic. Unwillingly."

Wait, what?

Sonic blinked. "What?"

The green hedgehog shook his head. "Never mind. Just sit up and look at me. You wanna eat, doncha?"

"No, I don't." And after Sonic retorted that, his stomach growled again much to his dismay.

Scourge scoffed. "Yeah, sure. Look, I'll get ya some food. It don't have to be chili dogs either, it can be whatever you want. Ya just gotta do one thing for me," The former prince crawled over closer onto the bed and sat directly behind Sonic's figure.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Like what? Another kiss again? No way."

"It's simple, really." A bright smile decorated itself onto the green one's face. "All ya gotta do is suck me off."

The hero's eyes widened significantly, and he couldn't contain the snarl forming in his throat. He kicked the blankets off and swung an elbow into Scourge's chest. "Fuck _off!_ " He yelled while backing away until he reached the headboard. "I told you from day one, I would never do anything to you, and you're not gonna do anything to me!" He yelled. "Besides, this isn't even you talking, is it? This is just the freak side of you. Go away!" He demanded angrily. "Thanks to you, my life has been nothing but shit since the minute you showed your face in Mobius. I don't even care about this whole conspiracy bullshit, I just want this to end." He turned away from Scourge and gripped the sides of his head while lowering it between his legs. "I hate you, I hate this. I want nothing to do with you anymore! Just leave me alone and never come back!" He hollered.

Scourge listened and watched carefully, his face void of any expression. Wow, Sonic sounded pretty distraught.

It was a shame he didn't buy that shit.

His anti-self chuckled while shaking his head. "Oh Blue, you're not gonna trick me like that. I'm too smart, ya know?" He casually said while sitting next to Sonic back against the headboard. Upon hearing this, Sonic just scowled and continued looking away from him. That whole act was a ruse. He wanted Scourge to think he was emotionally distressed so he could just give up and leave him alone. "Sorry, I'm not gonna let you off that easily." The grin on his face widened. "So now, I'm not gonna ask nicely. You don't really have a choice in the matter since I need ya at full strength for our big fight."

Oh God, this again-Wait, what? _Why?_ If Scourge really did plan on them having a big fight, why would he want Sonic to be at full strength? Wouldn't you want every advantage you could get? Unless he really believed in his own hype that much, that plan didn't make any sense. "Wait, why?" Sonic asked with narrowing eyes. "Don't you want to beat me and just get everything over with? Actually, why am I even alive right now?" He said as a matter of factly. "Your goal is to kill all Chaos Born by starting with the most powerful, me. Right? So why not just kill me now? Hell, why didn't you kill me the first time you captured me?"

Scourge continued shaking his head with a 'tsk tsk tsk'. "Silly Blue, you weren't ready. Well, rather, _I_ wasn't ready. I wanted to destroy your help first, so that could destroy any chances of the Divine Spirits screwing anything up on some deus ex machina bullshit." Help? Maybe he meant the Master Emerald and Christmas Island. If Sonic was able to warp from here to Mobius prime constantly, he would have had Hyper activated a long time ago. That was a smart move. And thanks to Zonic having his hands tied because of the spirits, he would have refused to help him do that anyway back in No Zone. Scourge wanted to destroy any possible way of Sonic cheating his way out of this encounter before their battle, which is why he let him go the first time. He needed to prepare by destroying Mobius and waging war on No Zone first.

Okay, but why not now? "Still, why won't you kill me now? You missed your chance at killing Zonic, so why not just get rid of me while I'm down?"

Scourge sighed at the numerous amount of questions. He leaned back and began to dig in his ear with his pinky finger. " _Because_ Blue, I'm infatuated with you. I wanna fuck your brains out, of course I'm bein' a little reluctant. 'Sides," He added. "Your power's been truly awakened thanks to Stripes, and I need you at one hundred percent so you can't hold back on me. Frankly, I thought after going to your shrine that you would have already had your power ready, but I guess not."

Yeah, that's not how things worked. When Sonic went to his shrine back on Christmas Island on his birthday, he was granted the ability to use Hyper without using Super Emeralds. That he'd be able to use his power whenever he wished _if_ he had gained something severely important first. Thanks to Shadow, Sonic got it, and he was able to truly awaken Hyper to his full potential, which was why he was able to transform back in No Zone.

"See," Scourge continued. "I want us to fight for a certain reason. I can't spoil it just in case your forms get any ideas, but I will say this," He trailed off with a darkening expression. "We're gonna fight to the motherfuckin' death. And I mean that."

Sonic's eyes widened. To the death? He wasn't serious, right? What would he gain from that? "But...But what if you lose, and I beat you?"

The green hedgehogs shrugged. "First of all, I'll be stronger than you. You won't kill me. Plus, you gotta understand somethin'." He turned to Sonic. "My deal with Fleetway was validated only because he believed I would cause permanent misery and disarray. Blue, even if you do restore your world and No Zone and fix everything I did, it don't matter. What I plan on doing, will effect you even after everything fails for me in the end. Soon, you'll see things exactly the way I do. Shit," He chuckled. "You might even thank me afterwards."

Thank him?

"Blue, I have the distinct feeling that you still don't get me." Scourge suddenly said. "I really don't want you to think that I'm doing all of this horrible shit, just because I'm some whiny, angsty, wannabe-edgy asshole with daddy and mommy issues who went through a whole decade of torture porn." He took a minute to think after he realized how much one would have to unpack in that sentence. Oh well, Sonic got his point. "I'm not doing this because of what I went through. I'm doing this because of what you and a lot of other innocent people in other worlds could go through. I'm doing this, because I want to end a cancer, and that cancer is _us._ I don't dress like an edgelord because it's who I am at heart or some other bullshit excuse brooding teens make. I look and act like this because, well, I like black. And acting this way makes me feel...Free."

Sonic paused at that. He felt, liberated like this? "Free?"

"Yup." Scourge nodded with a nicer tone. "I used to wear noble clothing all the time. I mean looking all fancy and junk was nice, at first. It was nice until I realized I had to look like some imperious prick every single day, even when I went to bed. I had to act a certain way, speak a certain way. And thanks to my terrible family, I was extremely obedient and meek just like Zonic. The very opposite of you, and that's just boring and redundant. I mean, wearing formal clothes are only worn for special occasions for a reason, right? Geez. But after running away from No Zone the first time, I got to do whatever the fuck I wanted. And it felt, I dunno...Great!" He said with a bright smile. "I got to wear whatever I wanted, talk however I wanted, act however I wanted. I had already decided by then that I would rebel against the spirits, so I didn't even have to listen to them either. Well, rather, _they gave up_ on forcing themselves into my life and my brain. I felt free! I was _free!_ " He said. "And that same freedom, is what I'm trying to give the rest of the universe."

That may be true, and it was almost nice to hear that Scourge truly felt happy for a short amount of time in the past. But wasn't the spirits super important to the universe? They made Chaos Born, they created chaotic power, they practically created Mobius and every other reality there is. Why destroy something not only so powerful, but lethally important? "But the spirits created us and a lot of other things. Like, planets and realities. Wouldn't destroying them and Chaos Born cause some kind of imbalance or something?" Sonic asked.

Scourge shook his head. "'Course not, dummy. Don't you think I would've thought of that? Nah, the multiverse don't need the spirits. After all, there was a world before Mobius. A world where humans lived without that chaotic nonsense. A world before _us_. A world before that weird ass invasion that created the spirits, and in turn, Mobians. Living organisms are spontaneous, stubborn and powerful beings themselves, Gods or not. Mobians and other people of other realities will live on, and will find a way to continue existing even without our kind poisoning every planet we come across. And that's not me being an endearing hopeful cinnamon bun, it's me being _realistic._ Life is a strange but immortal concept, that will eventually persevere." He looked to the side. "Sure, after our deaths, chaos energy will cease to exist. And the worlds may suffer a great loss without chaos power, No Zone being a huge factor. But, they'll be able to live with that. If the shitty ass humans could do it, they can do it too. I got faith in them."

Fuck, this asshole truly did think of everything. Absolutely, _everything_. The after effects of the destruction of Chaos Born and chaotic abilities in general, how to weaken the Divine Spirits' thresholds, how to put the most powerful being in the world in the most humiliating and vulnerable jail cell within his own home. Scourge really did his research, and he really thought everything through. How the hell was Sonic supposed to beat someone this clever? And, if Scourge was right about the spirits being evil...

...Should Sonic even try to beat him in the first place?

"Blue, like I told ya before, you gotta stop fighting me. You gotta look at the bigger picture." His voice became firm. "Fuck the details, fuck all the convoluted crap and fuck my backstory. I'm not the one that matters here. I didn't make that big ass speech back in No Zone to make you feel pity, I told you and showed you all of that tragedy so you could understand why I'm doing this at all. Even Zonic was a target of the Divine Spirits' abuse and manipulation." Scourge reached down and grasped Sonic's hands within his own. "I am irrelevant compared to you. _You_ , matter. Because only with your cooperation will this work a lot easier. I need you to listen to me, help me, and save the multiverse by sacrificing yourself along with me and every other Chaos Born."

Sonic stared into his eyes. They were perfectly blue, void of any red swirls.

"I want you at full power so we can end this. So just," He rose his hand and caressed Sonic's muzzle. "Let me help you, so you can help others." His eyes lowered with a hazy aura. "Now, open your mouth. Let's just get it over with, okay?" His other hand lowered towards the space between his green legs. "I'll make you feel so good, baby." He whispered. "That euphoria you feel when you cum, it'll sky rocket your chaos energy levels. And that high will make you feel like you're on cloud nine. Trust me."

That would, get his energy back...?

Really?

Sonic couldn't look away, he couldn't look away-

* * *

 _"You're everything to me, I swear it."_

 _"I love you."_

* * *

...

Shadow.

 _Shadow._

He was letting the very person who hurt him, humiliated him, deceived him, assaulted him, nearly killed him, took advantage of him, throw his entire personal philosophy and his reason to be a hero right in his face like a wet doormat. And he's just letting him do it. Letting him mind-fuck him even without Fleetway's powers, laying down and taking every skid mark of his boots on his face as much as Scourge wanted him to take. He was willingly, becoming someone's bottom bitch and he was actively being _okay_ with that.

Zonic was right. Scourge never actually needed Fleetway's powers to mind-fuck people, that was just an extra boost. He truly did have the mouth of a cult leader. What kind of shit is this? This spat in the face of who he was as a person, as a person with basic rights.

That was a load of utter _bullshit._

That's not who he was, and damn it that isn't who he should settle himself to be! If the fucking Divine Spirits were a problem with his very existence being the cause of it, oh-fucking-well. It isn't his fault that he's alive, it isn't his fault that the people who birthed him were God-like fascists that acted like Nazis whenever their rule was threatened. He's alive, and he planned on _staying_ alive! If his own brethren were the problem, then damn it, he'd help fix it, but not at the expense of killing himself and other innocent people! He was tired of being submissive, he was tired of feeling like a burden on everything when he hadn't really done anything wrong in the grand scheme of things. He's not gonna be a doormat anymore!

"Blue?"

Damn it, no.

"Blue."

God fucking damn it, he said _no!_

"Blue-"

 _NO!_

Sonic swung his fist directly into Scourge's cheek, ripping himself off of the bed instantly and standing up on his own.

"I am done with letting you manipulate me, fucking with my head to justify my own death, using my own way of life against me." Sonic gritted his teeth, his hands shaking violently as his body also trembled with his rage. "I let you kiss me, I let you touch me more than once, except I was conscious this time. I can believe you since you're a rotting piece of garbage fire, but I can't believe _myself_ right now." He looked away, down at the floor as his face darkened. "Maybe I'm just angry at myself, but I know one thing for sure." He whipped his head at Scourge. "You will _not_ march your ass in here, and demand me to touch you again! Stay the _fuck_ away from me, keep your food and keep your chaos energy!" He hollered, making Scourge's eyes bulge. He even blinked nervously and moved backwards on the bed. "You're right, you _are_ irrelevant. I don't need you. I don't need anything from you, and I'd rather die than betray Shadow again!"

Again, speechless, Scourge didn't speak nor make a move as Sonic continued.

"I'm better than that, I'm better than _you_. Point is, I'm not gonna help you. I'm not gonna be submissive to you. I'm not gonna lie down and let you willingly manipulate me into helping you kill millions of people." Sonic's words became vicious and heinous very quickly, his expression wrinkled with disgust and contempt. "You wanna toss our Chaotic Blood in our face so much, then fucking chew on this for a second. Why didn't you grab a whole bunch of Sonics from other realities who just might have the same ideas as you did, who'd be a lot more willing to fight them instead of _me?_ You could have made a whole army of nothing but more rebels to fight them. That way the spirits couldn't ignore you, and _I_ couldn't ignore you. We'd have to take what you wanted into consideration at the very least!"

"...I-"

He pointed a finger directly at his evil twin. "You put the burden all on yourself, and for what? For you to turn into some fucked up version of yourself? And let's not forget, there are millions of us running around in the multiverse. I'm more than positive there's another version of you willing to grip the Divine Spirits' by the fucking balls and show them what-for." Sonic shook his head at him, his teeth clenching angrily. "But no, instead you picked the worst target you could possibly get, _me_. The Divine Spirits' number one puppet. If what everything you said was true about me and them, then I should have been the very _last_ person on your list for help!"

"I picked you because you're the strongest to stand up against them. And they probably wouldn't have let me-"

"So _what!?_ " Sonic screamed back. "That doesn't excuse anything! You could have done so many other things to stop this, you didn't have to resort to mass genocide. You went right to eleven from the word go. I'd rather you go back to being stupid when you were stealing my identity and taking my girlfriends! That was hurtful, sure, but it wasn't evil in the grand scheme of things. I could have forgiven you for that." He admitted. "My question's still the same, Scourge. If you wanted me to fucking help you so bad, why didn't you just _talk_ to me!?" He screamed again while taking a step closer. "You could have talked to me when you first captured me, when I poured my heart out to you _crying._ But no, you just had to torture me, and rip Fleetway out of my brain instead, because you needed your power trip to help destroy my home. And _why?_ Not just to help out your plans, but it was because you wanted revenge against Zonic and me, too."

"But-"

Sonic continued. "You're selfish. You've destroyed every chance you could have had for me to wise up to your ideals and maybe willingly work with you. I could have changed you for the better and you really could have been my friend. But you've gone beyond a place, crossing a line where no normal person would look good defending." He shook his head again, he refused. "I can't do this anymore, I can't let myself think that you're right in _any_ aspect! I don't care what your reasons are, because as complicated and stupid as this whole thing has gotten, the point is simple. The Divine Spirits may be evil, but _you're_ evil, and I don't do evil. I'm against it, and I'm going to fight both you and the spirits until the very bitter fucking end. So you can beat me, you can torture me, you can even mind control me and make me hallucinate just like last time. 'Cause I'll die spitting you in the eye instead of living as your slave."

...

...With understandable hesitation, Scourge quietly replied with a single question. "Why the sudden rant?"

"Because," Sonic lowered his eyes a bit in shame. "You nearly made me forget who I was without even using Fleetway to mind control me. I almost forgot the reason why I keep fighting you, why I'm so stubborn in the first place." He glowered back at Scourge. "It's because I have people that I love, that I want to protect and go back to. If I help you or just let you do what you want, I'd be hurting all the other Sonics out there who are actually good-natured and kind. Who like me, might not have known about the Divine Spirits and are just trying to live their lives. I'd be hurting the people who love _them_ , and I'd be hurting the people who love _me_. I don't care what they had planned for me, because _I know_ I'm a good person. And I'm not gonna let you or the Divine Spirits change that."

"..."

"You wanted to save me and others from becoming evil dictators, and yet you're doing the exact same thing they enforced onto you and Zonic. Hey, I get it, okay?" Sonic said roughly. "Pacifism is a stupid concept to you, and now I finally see why. It's sad that it took all of this for me to get it through my head but, I do. Showing mercy to people who did things that can't be forgiven, shouldn't be lent a hand in compassion. I shouldn't let Eggman go all the time, I had the power and strength to throw his dumb ass in No Zone jail a long time ago, thousands of times over."

Sonic took a second to think before speaking again.

"Looking back on it now, maybe I shouldn't have forgiven Shadow when he turned to Black Doom since he actually killed people that time. But I forgave him anyway, and I'm glad I did, because now he's a hero just like me. Shadow was willing to change despite that huge mistake, and now he's actually doing some good by helping me save the world again. But _you?_ " His green irises narrowed. "Shadow killed a few people out of self defense, sure, but you... _You_...You're just..." He turned away from him with a cringe. "I can't even look at you, you're so despicable and beyond help. I get that sometimes I have to kill people to stop them from doing more harm, which might even mean killing you, too. And you know something?" He added. "I can finally say, that I'm okay with doing that now."

Silence.

...

Scourge stood up from the bed as well.

He nodded his head with a small smile. "I see. That's, good for you, Blue. I'm happy for ya." He said gently.

And then, his eyes twinkled scarlet red, and created hypnotic swirls.

* * *

 **END - 47**

 **(Sorry for the late update, college life is coming.)**

 **Evil is evil.**

 **There is right, and there is flat out wrong.**

 **You can't just be a doormat and choose not to decide on which is better or worse in fear of coming to a conclusion that you might not like.**

 **Life doesn't give a shit about what you want, or what you can't handle. Sometimes you have to make a harsh decision, whether you like it or not. And you better be okay with the consequences that come with your actions. If you can't do that, then don't be surprised when that philosophy bites you in the ass. _Hard._**

 **That is a lesson Sonic unfortunately had to learn the hard way: The more you continue to hesitate, the worse your consequences will be.**

 **Either kill Scourge, or suffer a slow and miserable death.**


End file.
